Experiments in Empathy
by Paradox Jast
Summary: The Nine Tails. Everyone in the Elemental Nations knows about it. But no one knows it as well as one Uzumaki Naruto. So what if he meets it a few years earlier, what's the worst that could happen?
1. Six

_**Age Six**_

A little blond boy by the name of Uzumaki Naruto was already a well known person in Konoha. The only thing that he didn't like is that while everyone seemed to know who he was, he was constantly ignored, and he had no idea why. Many of the pranks he pulled gathered him some attention for a short duration... a few minutes, perhaps up to an hour depending on how complex the prank was.

His latest prank in the making was a work of pure genius, or at least that's what he was telling himself. It was currently very early in the morning. So early that the sun was only just now beginning to peek over the horizon. Nearly everyone was still in bed, and Naruto himself wouldn't have been up this early if it wasn't for a very important reason.

He was currently in the process of attaching a bucket of water to a set of strings that would dump the water when a trap was walked through. The trap was set right in front of the door of a local merchant, one who totally ignored Naruto when the boy was only trying to purchase a few groceries. He wanted to teach the snob a lesson! Though he might get into a little bit of trouble over this, it would definitely be worth it to see the look on the merchant's face when he was doused with water.

Chuckling to himself, Naruto leaned forward to tie the bucket to the trap for when it was to be released. Unfortunately, as he leaned, he felt the rope that was holding him up jerk a little bit, and he dropped down a few inches. The young Naruto started to sweat as he remained still, he was still a good ten to twelve feet up in the air, and any fall would hurt big time. He looked up, panicking slightly... apparently the air vent that he tied his rope to wasn't very sturdy. Either that, or the rope itself was weak.

Being sure to be as careful as he could, he slowly leaned forward once again in an attempt to attach the bucket to his trap. Luck was not on his side, however, as he felt the rope give another lurch, and drop him another few inches. Breathing heavily, he decided to just drop the heavy bucket full of water and try to climb back up the rope to see if he could fix the rope that was holding him up.

He didn't have time to make that decision, however, as there was a loud groan of stressed metal from somewhere above him, and he dropped like a rock. In the seconds before he hit the rough cobblestone street below, he could remember hitting the ground too quickly to shout out, not that it would have done any good. Pain exploded in the back of his head as he hit the ground, and he vaguely recalled that there were thin clouds in the sky as his vision faded to black.

* * *

Drip... drip.... drip...

Naruto woke up with a startled gasp. He was currently sitting in a pool of something... it was like water, only thicker. Raising up one of his arms in curiosity, he noticed that it didn't get him wet either, the liquid merely drained off of his skin and clothing. Slowly rising to his feet, he felt the back of his head, surprised to find that there was no bump or bruise... it didn't hurt at all.

Smiling despite the fact that he couldn't remember how he got where he was, he looked around. There wasn't much to see. It was a decently sized tunnel, made of some kind of stone. There were large pipes running down both sides of the tunnel that seemed to connect to the wall at various spots, but it all looked completely random. No lights could be seen, but for some reason it was not dark. The water-like substance at his feet came up to his ankles, and it filled the entire tunnel as far as he could see.

Picking a direction at random, little Naruto started to walk. Somehow he got in here, so there had to be a way out. He tried calling out, to see if perhaps anyone would reply, but the only thing he could hear was the echo of his own voice. The strangest thing, though, was that depending on what direction he shouted in, he would eventually hear his own voice echoing from behind him...

The tunnel was completely straight and boring, but it didn't take long for him to encounter a door, one that led to a very large room. At least it seemed large, unlike in the tunnel, the room was completely dark, except for two small lights that he could see at what was probably the far end. He entered the room and looked up, the ceiling was taller here than in the tunnel. As soon as he entered the room, he could see the ceiling and the two walls on either side of the room, and as he continued walking towards the back, the light seemed to move with him, because it never got dark where he was.

When he finally got to the back of the room, he stared wide-eyed at the huge cage. There was no way to open it, that he could see, except perhaps if he moved that piece of paper that said 'Seal' on it. But he was way too short to reach it... there wasn't anyone he knew who was that tall. There was a low rumbling he could hear from behind the bars, but other than that, he couldn't see anything. It was totally dark, just like this room was before he moved into it. He was small enough to walk between the bars of the cage, but for some reason, he was feeling too scared to get too close.

"H-hello? Is anyone back there?"

As soon as he spoke, the rumbling noise he had heard before stopped. It was completely quiet. Naruto looked around the room again, then spoke once more.

"Is someone there? Can you tell me how to get out of here?"

_**"How did you get here?"**_

The loud voice seemed to come from all around him in the room. It was very deep and spoke slowly, but even Naruto could feel the power behind the words. He let out a little yelp and stumbled backwards a step, but did not fall. The voice said nothing else, so he answered it.

"I d-don't know. I was going to play a p-prank on a mean man, but my rope snapped and I fell. I closed my eyes and woke up here." Naruto's hands fidgeted nervously, he wasn't sure if this voice would tell the old man that he was going to play another prank. Getting in trouble sucked, though the old man was always nicer about it than whoever caught him.

_**"How old are you now?"**_

"Uhm... I'm six."

There was silence for a moment, until he heard a louder rumble than before.

_**"Too young. Close your eyes and think about waking up. You will return."**_

Naruto blinked several times. The voice was strange, it wasn't going to tell on him, and told him he could get back just by closing his eyes? What did it mean he was too young? For what?

"Hey! What am I too young for? I'm old enough for lots of things, and the old man just got me my own apartment! I'm better than lots of other kids my age!"

Naruto waited for the voice to return and say something, but it did not. "Hello? Are you still there? Hellooooo!"

_**"Go away."**_

Naruto was about to retort, but all of a sudden a huge eye appeared from behind the cage. It was bloodshot like the matron at the orphanage's eyes usually were, but the iris was a deep red and there was a black slit going down the middle. It looked nothing like any eye he had ever seen before.

He couldn't help but let out a startled shout and stumbled backwards as soon as it appeared. He didn't catch himself this time though, and fell backwards into the shallow water-like substance with a splash. Because the water was so shallow, he hit his head on the ground... again.

* * *

Waking, Naruto sat up quickly, feeling the back of his head immediately. It hurt this time, and he could feel a bump starting to grow. Looking around, he recognized immediately where he was, the bucket on the ground right next to where he was sitting.

Thinking back, Naruto remembered the strange place he just was, and wondered how he got there in the first place. That unique voice and the eye behind the cage, too... just thinking about it made him shiver. Hopefully it was just all a really odd dream...

Looking around once more, he noticed that it didn't seem like much time had passed, if any. Grabbing the bucket, Naruto set out to refill it quickly, he'd just dump the water on the merchant's head if he couldn't find another secure place to tie a new rope. He set out to refill the bucket, the voice and the eye soon forgotten.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter is essentially the intro/prologue. Just needed to get some stuff out that was different from my main fic and it's companion... to switch gears, in a manner of speaking. Just had the urge to do something -else- for a little bit. This fic will not take place in my Whirlpool Country universe. I've gotten three chaps of this written so far, each is a little longer than the previous. I'll post them gradually.

This will be a Naruto x Kyuubi fic, but that won't happen for a while yet. Kyuubi is essentially asexual and knows that it is, but as time goes on, it begins to 'understand', for lack of a better way to explain quickly. It should make for a good read, if nothing else. Hopefully, anyway.


	2. Eight

_**Age Eight**_

"No no no! You need to feel the object you're trying to substitute with. We start you off being able to look at the object, so this way you can learn what it feels like. I don't understand why you're having such a hard time with this... everyone else in class got it right away."

Naruto squinted and concentrated hard, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He was listening to his sensei, but also trying to use the kawarimi technique that they had learned in class earlier. Everyone else in his class was already done, and back inside. Naruto was stuck outside with one of the teachers from class, trying to figure out why he couldn't perform the easiest technique in all the Elemental Nations.

After a few more moments of staring at the log in front of him, Naruto sighed, then made the hand sign again. Since the technique was so easy to do, one of his teachers had shown the class that it could be done without hand signs, but that they would need to use them to learn the technique. He grumbled as he thought about some of the other kids in his class, and how so many of them performed the technique correctly on the first try.

"I understand that you must be frustrated, Naruto, but I really don't know what else I can do to help you. This is the most basic technique that there is, if you can't do this, then you probably just aren't cut out to be a ninja. I'll go talk to Hokage-sama and see if-"

"No! No I'll do it, I really will! Just... can I take this log home to practice? Please?!"

He recalled his other sensei mentioning that these logs were special, that they were laced with a special kind of chakra so that they would be easy to sense... but he didn't know how to sense it. When he asked about it, both of his teachers just said that he should just be able to 'feel' something different about the log.

Try as he might, he couldn't do it. The log didn't feel special to him at all. In fact, he couldn't even feel the log... or anything else for that matter. He had no idea what they were talking about.

"Fine... it should be okay for a day or two. But if you still can't do it by the end of the week, I will be talking to Hokage-sama. Understood?"

Naruto nodded his head rapidly, scrambling forward to pick up the supposedly special piece of wood.

"You might as well head on home now and get started. There's only fifteen minutes left in class anyway, so I give you permission. But you still have to come to school tomorrow - no skipping out to work on the kawarimi. Got it?"

Nodding once again, Naruto quickly scampered towards the school exit, eager to get home and figure out what exactly it was that he was doing wrong.

* * *

"Graaaah! I don't get it!" Naruto smacked both hands down on the floor in front of him, frustrated with his inability to swap positions with the log, just sitting on the floor barely over a meter in front of him. Supposedly you only needed a small amount of chakra for the technique to work, and his teachers had confirmed that he had quite a lot for a boy his age after he managed to unlock it. But knowing that there was something all the other kids in the class were able to do but he wasn't... even if he was the youngest kid in class... it stung.

The blond briefly considered going to the old man to ask for help, but he didn't want to disturb him. While the old man made a point to stop and visit a couple times a month, and was around to watch after him on his birthday, he knew that many other important people were agitated whenever the Hokage spent too much time around him. He didn't really understand why - other than the fact that the Hokage was an important person in the village. Everyone needed the Hokage in one way or another, and maybe they felt the old man had more important things to do than visit an orphan like him.

Shaking his head, Naruto sighed and glanced at the clock, noting the time. It had already been two hours, and he had nothing to show for progress. Bringing his hands together in the now too familiar hand sign, he closed his eyes this time, and concentrated. Maybe he needed to find his own chakra again before he could perform the technique... it was worth a shot, anyway. So far nothing else had worked.

So the young boy concentrated, doing the same thing he did when he unlocked his ability to use his chakra. Turning his senses inward, he tried to think of things that made him happy - things that made him who he was; his blond hair, his mastery of pranks, even his excellent getaway and stealth skills. It didn't take long for him to feel completely calm, until his skin began to tingle slightly, and a slow dripping noise forced him to open his eyes.

Drip... drip... drip...

Peeking with one eye first, his shoulders slumped for a moment, until old forgotten memories clicked back into place. He remembered being in this sewer before, with the light that followed him wherever he was, the big room with the cage, that voice... and the eye.

Opening both eyes and quickly jumping up, Naruto started breathing heavily when he remembered that bloodshot eye, and how it seemed to look through him. It was a memory, but it had quickly faded. Looking around nervously, he scanned the tunnel, only to notice that the entrance to the big room from before was only a few footsteps away. Carefully easing forward, he leaned towards the opening to peer inside.

Nothing had changed from before. The cage at the back end of the room was still rather far away, two torches barely illuminating it. Gathering his courage, he moved inside the doorway, once again noticing how the walls inside the room became visible, and how the light moved with him.

_**"So, the young one returns."**_

Stopping quickly, Naruto stared wide-eyed at the bars to the cage, expecting to see the eye looking at him again. The voice was back, but apparently the eye was not. Yet, anyway.

_**"Sooner than I expected, however."**_

Naruto didn't move any closer, and fidgeted nervously. He wasn't sure if this voice wanted him to reply, but it was nice to him before... so maybe it would be again.

"U-uhm... I just d-did the same thing back when I unlocked my chakra."

The silence lingered for barely a moment before the voice responded. Naruto couldn't tell for sure, since it talked so deep and slow, but it almost seemed... curious.

_**"Interesting. I had not anticipated that you would have been able to return here at this point in time. At least you can use chakra now, unlike before."**_

"Yeah. My teachers said I had a lot more than anyone else my age, and at least twice as much as the strongest person in my class. They are all two years older than me, too. The old man didn't seem surprised when I told him, though."

There was something akin to a snort that came from behind the bars, along with a deep rumbling.

_**"Well, he is your... Hokage, after all."**_

"Hmm, yeah... the old man is really, really smart. He probably already knew that I would have a lot of chakra, that's why he let me go to school two years early."

_**"No, they let you go to school early for another reason."**_

Naruto peered curiously behind the bars. He had been slowly walking closer as he talked to the voice. "Huh? What do you mean there was another reason?"

Two eyes and a big smile full of shining white teeth were slowly made visible, causing the young boy to let out a shriek and scramble backwards from the cage.

_**"So you can learn to try and control me..."**_

Naruto scrambled to his feet, turning and running for the doorway. He kept running and running, looking behind him - at a cage that didn't seem to be getting any further away. The big smile full of teeth was gone, but the two eyes were still there, staring intently at him. Naruto felt shivers run down his back, then looked in front of him once again. Nothing to be seen anywhere ahead of him, it was all just completely black from beyond the point of where the light that followed him reached. Even the area that the light covered seemed to be smaller than he remembered.

_**"Calm down and think about an exit, and one shall appear."**_

The young boy stopped running, breathing hard. Willing himself not to turn around, he slowed his breathing, closed his eyes and concentrated. He thought about the door that he had used to enter this room, and when he opened his eyes again, it was right there in front of him. Eyes wide, he turned to look towards the cage again, only to find that he had not moved very far away from it at all... the room had shrunk.

"How did... how did you know what I had to do? How did I do that? What's going on? What do you mean that I can control you?"

There was a sound from behind the cage, like something very large was shifting position. The eyes closed, and darkness was all that was visible from behind the cage once again.

_**"Much of what I could tell you will be beyond your ability to comprehend."**_

Naruto was going to say something else, but then his face quickly adopted an angry scowl. "Hey! Whaddaya mean I can't comr... copr... com-pre-hind...." He paused, mouthing the word to himself several times. Shaking his head, he pointed at the cage, at the being he believed he now knew was behind it. "Are you calling me stupid!?"

A deep, rolling chuckle echoed from behind the bars._ **"Not yet. We shall see what happens as you age. You are still very young for your species, mortal."**_

The boy didn't understand what the voice was trying to tell him by that, and was getting ready to say as much, until he remembered that the voice also told him he wasn't going to understand a lot of what it had to say, yet. So he settled for a grunt, then plopped down on the ground with a little splash. It didn't take long after that for him to remember his original predicament.

"Hey, mister, do you know how do do a kawarimi?"

There was a long moment of silence. He was about to ask if it was still there, until as if on cue, the voice responded just as he opened his mouth.

_**"Of course."**_

It didn't take but a couple seconds for Naruto to jump back up to his feet, excited. "Really?! Can you tell me how? I've been trying for a long time, but I can't do it, and my sensei doesn't know what's wrong. I was gonna go ask the old man, but he's always busy, and people get angry at me when I distract him."

There was another rumbling noise from behind the bars for several seconds before the voice spoke once again,_** "Imagine your chakra covering your body, then push it out. You should be able to feel objects around you. Try to pull that object to you as you move towards it. That should be enough."**_

Blinking, Naruto nodded dumbly, open-mouthed. It was really that simple? He pumped his fist in the air and cheered.

"All right! Thanks, mister! I'm gonna go try now!"

Naruto quickly ran through the doorway, exiting the room. Barely a minute later, he returned, panting. "Hey, um... How do I get out of here?"

_**"Close your eyes, and think about waking up... where you were before you got here. You will return."**_

Following the instructions, Naruto closed his eyes... and immediately disappeared, taking the light with him. Now all that remained was a cage, two torches, and the voice.

_**"This could prove interesting..."**_

* * *

The next day at school, Naruto returned the log to the teachers, and displayed to them that he could now perform kawarimi.

After that, he spent the rest of the day using the technique on the chalkboard erasers, annoying his two teachers to no small extent. It wasn't until they threatened to tell the Hokage that he was misbehaving using shinobi techniques that he settled down. A small part of him wondered if the voice would have been proud of what he could do now.


	3. Ten

_**Age Ten**_

"Hey old man! Can I have your job yet?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen blinked, then barked out a quick laugh as he quickly stuffed his old student's latest work into the nearest desk drawer. "Why Naruto, what brings you here? You didn't get in trouble again, did you?"

"Nooo... I've been good today. I even made an appointment to see you this time!"

The child had such a big grin on his face, that Hiruzen was able to mask his surprise by returning the smile and offering a chuckle. He knew that he had several small appointments lined up today, but he did not know that Naruto was one of them. He was not aware that Naruto knew how to do such a thing, but he assumed his secretary must have set this up. Only if he could have borne witness to that conversation...

"My my, I admit I'm impressed that you managed to do such a thing, Naruto-kun." The Hokage leaned over his desk slightly, to he could get a clear look at the boy. "So what can I do for you today?"

Having hopped up into one of the chairs as Hiruzen asked the question, Naruto looked around for a second. He then pursed his lips together, apparently thinking about something.

"Uhm... old man... I have a friend, and he told me to ask you about what really happened to the Kyuubi."

That was certainly not what Hiruzen was expecting to hear, and the shocked look on his face clearly showed it. But he quickly composed himself, leaning back in his chair and giving the blond an appraising stare. Naruto simply stared back impassively, waiting for an answer, his feet kicking back and forth since they did not quite touch the floor.

"I thought they told you what happened in class, Naruto? The Kyuubi attacked the village ten years ago, on your birthday. The Yondaime Hokage fought the Kyuubi and managed to defeat it, but lost his life in the process."

Naruto had started scratching his head halfway through Hiruzen's talk, looking confused and antsy at the same time.

"My friend told me you'd say that. He says that there is more to it than what they teach in school. No one else will tell me what really happened, and neither will my friend, so I was hoping you could, old man."

Sarutobi looked at Naruto for several long moments before he let out a sigh, then rubbed at his eyes with his fingers. This friend of his... could it... well, it likely was and that in and of itself was a scary proposition. Minato had assured him that the seal he was using would filter any negative effects. He now had to determine if there was any damage to the child, and if there was... if the damage could be reversed.

"Naruto-kun... I will tell you what really happened, if you do something for me first."

The young boy simply stared at the Hokage wide-eyed, eagerly waiting.

"I need you to answer a couple of questions for me. Can you do that?"

"Sure old man. I haven't pulled any pranks for a while though, so if that was one of your questions, I don't have anything to tell you."

That caused the Hokage to smile. At least Naruto _seemed_ like he was still his old self. "Ah, no, that was not going to be one of my questions, but I am glad to hear it, all the same. My first question, actually, was going to be this: Does this friend of yours have a name? Is he someone at school?"

Naruto merely blinked, clearly not anticipating what he was asked. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he bit his lip, probably trying to think of how best to answer.

"Well, no he's not a friend from school. I can see him whenever I want to by just thinking about it. Some of the other kids at school laugh at me when I talk about him, saying I'm too old to have an imaginary friend. But he's not imaginary! He helps me with my homework when I really, really need it! He also explains things to me when I don't understand them in class, and-"

Sarutobi held up a hand. "Whoa there, it's okay Naruto-kun. I have been watching your progress in school, and you have indeed been doing better, which I am happy to see. But you are still almost failing."

The blond's face scrunched up and he crossed his arms. "Yeah, well school is boring. The only classes I like are the ones that teach us to be ninja. Besides, if I'm gonna be Hokage, I need to know how to fight."

This caused the Hokage to sigh. As much as he would love to see young Naruto grow up to be Hokage, they had this discussion every time he saw the boy. "Naruto-kun... fighting is not the only thing a Hokage needs. You need to know and understand other people too, in order to bring peace to everyone, not just in your own village."

"Yeah yeah... it's still boring. Bleh." Naruto kept his face scrunched and his arms crossed, staring defiantly at the old man sitting on the other side of the desk. Hiruzen couldn't help but feel the urge to grab his pipe... but he tried to avoid using it around children.

"Anyway, Naruto-kun... does this friend of yours have a name? I don't think you answered that question yet."

At this, Naruto frowned. "I've asked him a few times, but he won't tell me. He's only said something like I 'won't understand what his name means, so I should ask someone else to tell me'. He won't even tell me how old he is. But he sounds like an old man sometimes."

"He sounds like me?"

Naruto looked surprised for a second, then shook his head. "Nah, he sounds kinda like Shikamaru's dad. He talks really slow and with a deep voice. But it's really loud too, and Shikamaru's dad is kinda quiet."

Hiruzen couldn't recall Kyuubi ever talking when it attacked Konoha, if anything it seemed like a rabid animal, thrashing about at anything in sight. What Naruto was describing now... someone that was helping him with homework, and by all appearances willingly interacting with the child...

"Naruto, have you ever seen this person?"

The boy shrank back in his chair and almost looked frightened for a moment, as if he remembered something scary. After a few seconds, he shook his head.

"No... I haven't. I did see something, but..."

When he didn't continue, the Sandaime had to prod him onwards. "Well, sometimes I see its eyes, or its teeth. One of his teeth is as big as me, probably bigger, I wasn't really close when I saw them from behind the cage. But it scared me. I saw his eyes too, they are huge and really red. They look like the eyes on the cat of my neighbor, except for them being red, and not yellow. Oh, and when I see his eyes they have those red lines in them like the matron lady at the orphanage always had, but..."

Sarutobi listened carefully to all of Naruto's explanation. This really was the Kyuubi interacting with him after all... but this particular Kyuubi was an unknown quantity. He had never been made aware of any situation where a bijuu had willingly corresponded with its host in his lifetime, with one minor passing rumor he heard about a jinchuuriki from the Cloud Village. That rumor never amounted to anything, however, and it was a long time ago as well... so he never paid it much mind. Now, however, the memory of that old rumor was returning swiftly. Perhaps it was possible, if what he was hearing any indication. It could also be a trap by the bijuu, make Naruto trust it then turn on the boy later when he got older.

Hiruzen sighed and rubbed his forehead in aggravation. This was definitely not something he could have forseen happening. Perhaps when he unlocked his chakra, he did it in such a way as to trigger the seal? But Minato had assured him before he sealed Kyuubi that they likely wouldn't interact until after Naruto had become a ninja, and needed to draw upon a large amount of chakra all at once. The one thing that did ease his mind was Naruto mentioning that he had witnessed the beast being behind a cage.

"Hey old man, are you alright? You look sad."

He shook his head slowly and offered Naruto a small smile. "No, no... I'm fine, Naruto. Now it seems I have to answer your question about what really happened. I had planned on telling you after you graduated, but it seems as though your friend has forced my hand a bit."

Naruto simply looked confused, so the Hokage continued talking, trying to get out the explanation before more questions popped up. "Let's see now. Ten years ago, the Kyuubi attacked this very village. No one knew why, and any attempt to hold a conversation with the Kyuubi was met with violence. The Yondaime met the Kyuubi in the forest to the east of here before it made it to the walls. Once they met, the battle was swift, and the Kyuubi was sealed away."

The boy was listening intently, until the earnest look on his face was once again replaced by one of confusion. "Sealed away? Where?"

Here was the hard part. "Inside of you, Naruto-kun."

The boy simply let out a little 'eep', then looked at his hands and started shaking slightly. Hiruzen stood from his seat, slowly walking around his desk, then deliberately got down on one knee in front of the young boy and placed a steady hand on his shoulder. "Look at me, Naruto."

The young child did, looking rather panicked as he did so. There were small tears starting to form in his bright blue eyes. "A-Am... am I... Kyuubi?"

The Hokage chuckled softly, and shook his head, gently ruffling Naruto's wild hair. "No, no my boy. Not at all. You are and always will be my little friend, Uzumaki Naruto. It is because of you that the Kyuubi did not destroy the village. You are a hero, Naruto."

The child started to smile and wiped at his eyes, but then hung his head once more. "Then why does... why do so many people ignore me?"

"Well, Naruto-kun... I think some people have a hard time understanding what happened. A lot of people lost family members and friends when the Kyuubi attacked our village, they died trying to keep it away to protect those who cannot fight - just like you lost your parents before you ever got to know them. Their sacrifice gave the Yondaime enough time to do what he needed to do - and you, Naruto, are what saved us all. Your sacrifice protects this village every day you live.

"So you need to grow up and become a strong ninja. This way some day that which tried to destroy us may one day end up helping to save us all. You are going to be Hokage and let me retire, aren't you?"

Naruto rubbed at his nose, smiling at the Hokage in earnest. "Yeah, thanks old man. I'll do my best."

Sarutobi smiled and nodded, then grunted as he returned to his feet. "Good, I'm glad to hear it. You should keep quiet about who your friend is, though, because it is likely that some might misunderstand you and something bad might happen. Do you know what I mean?"

Slowly nodding his head, the young blond frowned. "I can't tell anyone?"

"No. Bad people might try to come and take the Kyuubi away from you if they find out about it, and you would get hurt. I would be very sad if you were hurt. You don't want me to cry, do you?"

Naruto chuckled, rubbing at his eyes a little. "Nah, I like you too much to make you cry, old man. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Grinning a little, Sarutobi returned to the chair behind his desk before focusing his attention on his young charge once again. "Is there anything else you need to know about what your friend the Kyuubi told you?"

Thinking for a moment, Naruto eventually shook his head negatively. "Nah. That was the only thing that he really nagged me about."

Finding it curious why the Kyuubi simply did not tell the boy what he was, he offered the boy another smile, then dismissed him. It didn't take long for the energetic - yet slightly subdued - boy to jump out of the chair and quickly leave the room, slamming the door behind him.

Sarutobi stared at the door for several moments before sighing, then making a signal with his hand as he rested his head in his hands, arms propped up on his desk. Three ANBU appeared almost immediately.

"Yuugao, please continue to observe Naruto at a careful distance. Just make sure he's alright... I don't know what he may be thinking after what I just told him."

The ANBU with long purple hair nodded quickly, then immediately disappeared.

"Genma... your shift is almost up, isn't it? Go ahead and take the rest of the day off. I need to talk to Kakashi about a few things. I will have a discussion with you tomorrow when you report in."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Excuse me." The ANBU gave a swift bow, then disappeared as well.

Leaning back from his desk and folding his arms in his lap, Sarutobi moved his chair slightly to look out the window behind him.

"Do you think he'll be okay, Kakashi?"

The last of the ANBU trio that had appeared pulled his mask away from his face, letting it rest on the side of his head. His voice was still slightly muffled through the other mask he wore that covered the lower half of his face.

"He's proven to be strong so far, considering his treatment by most people. I think he'll be able to handle this too."

Sarutobi nodded, more to himself than to Kakashi. He had feared about telling Naruto about the Kyuubi before he graduated from the Academy... hopefully everything would work out for the best.

"I've actually been meaning to talk to you for a few days now, so it's good that Naruto-kun decided to visit me today. I'm going to be restoring you to regular duty in the next couple months."

Kakashi nodded. "You want me to take Naruto on a team, as we discussed when he first entered the Academy."

"Exactly. Since his father is no longer with us, I believe you are the most logical choice to instruct him."

Kakashi chuckled. "Sensei probably would have rather had Obito, or even Rin, teach Naruto before I ever got a chance. Naruto's personality is nothing like mine, we're bound to clash."

"Perhaps, but as his teacher, you can keep him grounded. At the same time, he can teach you how to lighten up. Do you still visit the memorial every day?"

Kakashi looked away, outside one of the windows, but chose not to reply. There was a moment of silence, and Kakashi chose to change the subject instead of reply directly.

"So what should I do if he doesn't pass the graduation exam? We both know his grades aren't the best."

The Hokage grunted, and reached for his pipe, prepping it. "Indeed. That may be a problem. If that is the case, I'll probably hand you the worst group overall and you have my instruction to fail them. Until you get Naruto on your team, be as harsh as possible."

Kakashi's eyebrow over his visible eye was clearly raised. "Isn't that rather mean? I can understand where you are coming from, not everyone is cut out to be a shinobi, but to deliberately fail students?"

Hiruzen took a couple puffs from his pipe before responding to Kakashi's inquiry. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, formulating a response that would hopefully not come across as completely callous.

"You said it yourself, not everyone is cut out to be a shinobi. I have enough trust in my staff at the Academy to believe what they tell me about certain students. We do place the worst person in a class with the two best, because that is all we can typically salvage. Some children have the motivation, dedication, and drive to become shinobi. Others do not. Even if Naruto places last in his class, every teacher he has had so far tell me that he has the strongest drive to become a shinobi that they have ever seen. He could potentially become the youngest graduate of the Academy since Uchiha Itachi graduated at age seven, Kakashi."

"He won't if his grades don't improve. Why are they so low?"

Hiruzen grumbled. "While the teachers do notice him, they only take so much time explaining things to him. Unfortunately for the boy, Naruto is a very... politically galvanizing person. Any one teacher gives him more attention than someone else who may be the child of a council member, a wealthy merchant - the list goes on - and I'll have inquiries coming from where the sun doesn't shine. Everyone will want to know why the Kyuubi child is getting more attention and help than their child. It only takes one..."

Nodding as the Hokage's voice drifted off, Kakashi sat down in the chair Naruto had since vacated. "So keep failing my teams until Naruto graduates, then?"

Sighing yet again, the Sandaime set his pipe on its holder. "I've been thinking about something else, too. Even if it is rather uncouth of me, regardless as to if the boy passes his exams or not, I may force Naruto-kun to graduate when he turns twelve, along with others his age. The extra training may help, and I also believe that would place him at about on par to graduate with the last Uchiha, correct? Some have requested that I move that boy onto the fast-track for graduation, but I do not feel it would be wise to cater to him too much."

Thinking for a moment, Kakashi scratched at his cheek. "Uchiha... Sasuke? I think so, I honestly don't know much about the kid, other than his circumstances. Reminds me a little of myself."

There was a moment of sadness in Hiruzen's eyes before he shook his head, getting back on track. "It may work out best if both of them graduate in the same year. This way you can have Naruto on your team, and Sasuke as well. He'll need a teacher who knows how to use the Sharingan. You're the last one left. "

"Are you sure? Won't that distract me from teaching Naruto?"

Sarutobi gave Kakashi a hard look. "No, you will be teaching your entire team. I know you haven't had to teach Genin before, but they will all need your attention. You must avoid favoring any student over the other."

"My apologies, I didn't mean-"

Sarutobi held up a hand. "I know. It's fine, just remember what I said. Now... I need to explain what's going to happen to your current ANBU team."

* * *

"Why didn't you just tell me what you were?"

Naruto stared pointedly at the darkness behind the cage. He knew what was back there now, even if he could never see it. He was actually surprised at his own boldness, he was only ten and angry at the creature that nearly killed his entire village if the Yondaime hadn't stopped it. He supposed that the only reason he could act like this was that it hadn't hurt him so far... and had actually helped him more than anyone else in Konoha, including the old man.

_**"Would you have believed me if I told you what I was, without the explanation coming from someone with authority?"**_

Naruto opened his mouth as if to speak, but quickly shutting it, realizing Kyuubi was right. Even if it had been helping him for the past two years, he still would have found it hard to believe that the monster described in the history books was helping him... the one who was constantly ignored.

But it did explain why he was ignored. He might only have been ten, but having to fend for yourself made you grow up fast. He was smart enough to put the pieces together. The old man was right, he was Uzumaki Naruto, but many people chose to see him as what was... inside him. Exactly how that worked, he didn't know, but he did suppose that it had something to do with the piece of paper on the cage, marked as a seal.

"So why did you attack the village then?"

The silence dragged on for nearly a minute before Naruto realized he probably wasn't going to get a response. This was a typical tactic of the Kyuubi, to just ignore anything it didn't want to respond to. No amount of wheedling on Naruto's part had so far been able to pry anything out of the Kyuubi that it did not want to offer. While he could understand the need for a persons - or beings - privacy, this was really important to him. Gathering up his nerve, he moved closer to the cage and started banging on one of the cage bars with an open palm.

"Hey, Kyuubi! This is really important to me, because it's about my home! I need you to tell me why you attacked it!"

There was no warning as something behind the bars moved swiftly, banging hard against the inside of the cage. The concussive force of that impact was enough to knock Naruto off his feet and send him flying backwards several meters. After lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling for a moment, registering what just happened, he grunted slightly as he propped himself up on his elbows. Looking towards the cage, he noticed that the eyes were visible and looking at him for the first time in a very long time, and a thin row of teeth were visible.

_**"Insolent whelp! I will decide when you need to know something! Not before! Telling you what happened now would be of no benefit to either one of us!"**_

The Kyuubi's voice rang throughout the room and in his head, it was the loudest he had ever heard it before. Wincing slightly, Naruto pulled his knees to his chest and hugged his legs, sufficiently cowed. When the Kyuubi understood that it would not get any further lip service from the boy, the eyes closed and the teeth disappeared once again.

Naruto sat there, staring ahead blankly at the cage for several long moments, listening to the steady dripping noise coming from the hallway behind him. He argued with himself for a little while, wondering if he should press the issue about the attack, but realization set in when he questioned if Kyuubi had ever misled him before. It was true that there were many things it would not tell him, but it also explained things to him that he never would have expected... in ways his teachers in school never thought to. If it wasn't for Kyuubi, he might not even still be in school.

"I'm sorry."

There was silence after his spoken words, and Naruto pressed his forehead against his knees. He felt tears approach his eyes when he realized that he might have somehow insulted one of the first friends he ever had, and it wasn't going to forgive him.

_**"There is no need to be sorry for anything. You are still but a child. You will learn."**_

Naruto looked up again, sniffling and wiping at his eyes with the back of his hands. The eyes of the Kyuubi opened slightly this time upon hearing the noise, and a quiet sniffing noise could barely be heard heard from behind the bars.

_**"Why can I smell that you are in tears? I merely informed you that it was pointless for you to ask a question for which you would not be able to appreciate an answer. That is all."**_

Slowly stumbling to his feet, Naruto mumbled out a reply, "I thought you were angry with me. You were talking so loud it made my head hurt."

_**"Angry?" **_The Kyuubi's voice came across as genuinely curious, which was rare, and the eyes behind the cage closed once more._**"The so-called human emotion that denotes some form of aggressiveness... yes, I guess you could believe my speech contained this... anger. My intent was simply to get my point across in such a way that you would not be so inclined to perform in an unseemly manner again."**_

Trying to wrap his mind around what the Kyuubi was saying, Naruto frowned. "You don't know what anger is? People get angry at me all the time for pulling pranks!"

_**"I know what anger is. I am saying that I do not have that emotion. Or any of your human emotions, for that matter. I seem to be able to emulate them, even if unintentional, however."**_

"What?" Naruto was totally shocked, even if he really only understood the beginning of what Kyuubi just told him. "But how do you not get happy or angry or sad or anything like that?"

Waiting patiently for an answer, Naruto was soon dismayed to find that one would not be coming. Apparently it was yet one more thing he was not able to understand yet. Holding back a sigh, he tried something else.

"Will you tell me when I get older?"

Again, there was no reply. Letting his shoulders droop, he closed his eyes, preparing to leave this place and return to his room in his apartment. Just as the image of his room appeared in his mind, a voice rang through the room he was still in.

_**"Perhaps."**_

Naruto woke up in his room with a small smile on his face.

* * *

A/N: Based on reviews received so far, I'll offer a little background/extra information.

Kyuubi - The Kyuubi is essentially a mass of chakra with a unique intelligence and will of its own. I can't explain much more than that without ruining the future of the story, but it is not 'doting' on Naruto in any way, shape, or form. As can be seen in part from this chapter, Kyuubi has no interest in helping Naruto if it will not be of any use to both of them. Right now, you could say it is Kyuubi's objective to make Naruto a bit more intelligent and aware of his surroundings, if nothing else - without giving too much away about itself or its capabilities. Kyuubi plays its cards _very_ close to the vest, in a manner of speaking.

Konoha - The village, in general, is how I imagine it to be in canon. For the most part, the villagers just try to forget Naruto exists. He is not mistreated, just ignored. There are people who feel sorry for him, or are likely curious about him, but they are in the minority. The shinobi, on the other hand, are cautiously neutral about him. They all know about the Yondaime's sacrifice, and that if it wasn't for Naruto that they likely wouldn't be alive now. The only time most of them choose to interact with him is on the Hokage's instruction, because as evidenced in this chapter, Naruto is a very politically-charged person, even if he himself doesn't know it. This won't have much impact on the future of the story, but it very much impacts his childhood.

Timeline - Naruto was entered into the Academy two years prior to his peers. This was the only way I could think to explain the plot hole of sorts in canon manga, where Naruto has failed his graduation exam two times yet is still the same age as everyone else. His classes change every now and again, including who he takes classes with, but during his final year in canon before he graduates, his 'homeroom' class is the one we see, with Sasuke, Sakura, etc. This explains Naruto remarking about how Kyuubi speech pattern resembles that of Shikamaru's dad, because by now Shikamaru has been in school for at least two years and he and Naruto know each other. (Naruto does also fail for a 3rd time, but gets an auto-pass after the Mizuki incident - just to clarify.)

This story will follow canon on nearly all plot points with very few changes. Deviations won't occur until Shippuuden, and there will likely be deviations that I believe can be considered post-canon. Chapter lengths will likely vary greatly as well, because I will be writing chapters based around Naruto's current age, and some years will have a lot that happens, while others will have not that much.


	4. Twelve

_**Age Twelve**_

Nothing ever went the way he wished that it would lately. Naruto had run to school in a panic, he had slept through most of his alarm and barely made it to his class in time. In his defense, he was up late into the night practicing the clone technique, the one he failed to perform his last two attempts, and would likely give him hell again this time. The Kyuubi had been strangely silent as the test date approached, and he wasn't quite sure why. It had mentioned something about him passing on his own merits and something else about being worthy, but as to what the Kyuubi was referring to, Naruto didn't understand. As was typical, further inquiry was met with silence.

In the past he had griped to Kyuubi about not waking him up when it was important via mental prodding like it used to when he was younger, but Kyuubi simply stated that if Naruto always relied on it then he wouldn't amount to much as a shinobi. It was only after a long period of Naruto frowning as he thought about it did he realize that Kyuubi was, in fact, correct.

Almost not making it to class in time was only a minor setback, however - it had happened plenty of times before and he had only gotten what he felt were gentle reprimands from Iruka, his homeroom teacher for the last two years, and an occasional detention. The worst part about his morning, so far, was that he managed to make a fool of himself in front of his beloved Sakura-chan yet again. Someone had tripped him as he was running up the large steps towards where she was standing at the end of Sasuke's row.

As his luck would have it, she turned to look at him warily as he jogged up towards her. He was so focused on her, however, that he didn't notice when the foot was stuck out from one of the class benches, and he tripped over it. He would never forget the look of shock on her face as his own crashed directly into her chest, and the force of his movement knocking them both to the ground, with him on top.

He had immediately panicked and jumped off of her, reaching down to offer her his hand. It was to no avail, however, as she continued to lie there on the ground, arms covering her chest, an expression of rage on her face that he had never seen before. The next several seconds were a blur as she started yelling at him with words strung together so quickly that he could only pick up bits and pieces, mostly revolving around 'idiot', 'insulting', and 'Sasuke-kun'.

She got in a few good hits too, some of which he was unable to protect against completely, one of them that still ached on the side of his head. He had managed to back away far enough from her to where she wouldn't follow - if one thing was predictable about Sasuke's fangirls, it's that none of them would wander too far, lest another one find an opening. Huffing angrily, she twirled back around and began apologizing to Sasuke, claiming that Naruto hadn't 'stained' her, or something like that, going so far as to state that she was still 'pure' for him.

Naruto had tuned out her ramblings, as well as the laughter that still circulated the classroom. Finding a still empty row, he sat down in the first chair at the end near the aisle, and rubbed at his sore head. It wasn't until Iruka-sensei entered the classroom that he decided to smile again.

* * *

**"I fail to understand why you continue to fawn over that pink haired harpy in your class. She has nothing of value to offer you as a potential mate that I can discern." **

Naruto looked up at the glowing red eyes that were peering at him from behind the bars of the prison. He let his hands fall to his sides from the position that they were in previously; he had been channeling his chakra through a handsign in his mind as Iruka reviewed some boring stuff in class, testing the limits of his chakra control, as Kyuubi had suggested he do a long time ago whenever he was bored or had free time. It wasn't as efficient as real-world practice, but it helped him concentrate, if nothing else.

"Huh? Sakura-chan? What about her? I just think she's pretty, that's all."

There was a large exhalation of breath, followed by a low rumbling. **"Listening to her shrieking voice is a nuisance, and she only pays attention to that Uchiha scum regardless of whatever... childish antics you perform to gain her fleeting attentions." **

Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion for a moment, thinking about what the Kyuubi said. Sometimes it used words that he didn't know, but since they had been talking so often now, he was able to understand what Kyuubi was saying if he thought about it long enough. Sometimes Kyuubi would explain the meaning of a word, but then moments like those would only last so long before it got irritated and went silent.

After he finally grasped what Kyuubi was getting at, Naruto began to stutter something about Sakura, until it clicked that it had insulted Sasuke. Naruto pointed up at the Kyuubi's cage.

"Hey! Sasuke may be annoying at times, but he's not scum! Take that back!"

A deep chuckle filled the room.** "I refuse. He is still young, much like yourself. I will be watching closely to see if he succumbs to the same curse of darkness that has befallen many of his ancestors, those with the damned eyes." **

"Damned eyes? What are you talking about?"

Silence met him, which was not unusual in the least. While Kyuubi had become much more talkative over the past years since they first met, there was still a multitude of things that it refused to comment on further or explain.

"Hey hey, you've been around for a long time like you said, right? Do you have any ideas that might help me get Sakura-chan to go on a date?"

Kyuubi simply stared down at Naruto for several long moments. Naruto turned away, pouting after a little while, figuring that Kyuubi wouldn't answer this one either.

**"Are you seriously asking me **_**that**_**?" **

Naruto whirled back around, surprised. The Kyuubi's voice was filled with incredulity, though Naruto simply believed that the Kyuubi was surprisied at the question. Or at least it seemed to be... Naruto didn't believe that Kyuubi didn't have 'human' emotions, and he didn't understand what that emulation thing that Kyuubi kept talking about either.

"Of course!"

It was silent for another few seconds, as if contemplating whether or not to continue with the conversation. **"I will give you advice, if you agree to make a bet with me." **

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly. This was new. Kyuubi never offered to make bets, and he always had to beg and plead for any kind of information that it didn't want to give out. Even then, the begging and pleading rarely worked, and he just had to wait for whenever Kyuubi felt like parting with the information he desired.

"Are you going to try to trick me?"

**"No. You wanted information, I will give it. However, it will come at a price, namely making this bet with me." **

Thinking about it for a second, Naruto slowly nodded. "Okay, what's the bet?"

**"You actually thought about it for a moment without jumping in regardless of the consequences. Good, you're making progress." **

Naruto preened slightly as Kyuubi continued,** "The bet is as follows. After I give you advice, if she accepts this date of yours; you win, and I will teach you something new that you didn't learn in school." **

The blond's eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to say something, but the Kyuubi continued talking over him, **"If she turns you down however; you lose, and you will have to stop playing pranks and acting like an idiot around everyone to gain attention until I say otherwise." **

Naruto's mood instantly settled. So that was the catch. "But if I don't, I'll just keep being ignored."

**"Why do you insist on needing attention? You have the attention of your Hokage, as well as the attention of the greatest of the tailed beasts. Do you really need more?"**

Naruto's mouth opened as he immediately went to reply, but then quickly snapped shut as he had thought about it. Another thing that Kyuubi had somehow instilled in him - think things through. If he didn't, he wouldn't get the information that he was looking for, as the Kyuubi had proven to him on many occasions before now.

"It... it hurts to be ignored... to be alone. I don't like it."

One of Kyuubi's eyes opened fractionally from where it was behind the cage, examining him. That meant that his answer was acceptable, or that it did something like surprise the Kyuubi. It only ever opened it's eyes or showed teeth when it had a point to make, or Naruto had somehow surprised it.

**"Did you forget? You are never alone. I am here with you."**

It was Naruto's turn to open his eyes, the difference was that his flew wide open. While the statement was very simple, and strangely comforting considering the source, he had never really thought about it like that. Even if the Kyuubi didn't talk to him whenever he came to visit the prison in his mind, it was still there, always inside of him. It didn't have to talk - Naruto could easily _feel_ the presence behind the cage. While Naruto felt that Kyuubi was a friend, even if a rather strange one, Kyuubi itself had never given Naruto any impression that it felt a connection with him. This was the closest Naruto had ever gotten to an admission of their solidarity.

He was going to inquire further about how exactly Kyuubi felt, but it chose that moment instead to continue talking. **"Running away from pain is not something a true shinobi would do. As for the information you want regarding the... **_**female**_**... listen carefully, for I shall not repeat it..."**

* * *

"H-Hey... Sakura-chan?"

Iruka had left the classroom, taking the first student with him to be tested for graduation. It was the clone technique again, his worst, but he was pretty sure that he could nail it this time. Using that confidence, he bolstered himself as he went to confront his crush. Kyuubi's advice was something that he had never really considered before, but everything else had worked so far, so he figured it was worth a shot.

He was prepared for the scathing look that Sakura sent him, but not so much the one from Ino, who was sitting next to her in their row.

"What do you want now, stupid? I'm trying to have a conversation with Ino."

If he didn't have people in the classroom paying attention to him when he got out of his seat, he certainly did now. Sakura didn't make any attempt to keep her voice down.

Naruto had to fight the urge to say nevermind and bolt back to his seat, and managed to keep his face somewhat serious.

"I didn't mean to interrupt. I... I wanted to say sorry for falling into you before. I didn't mean to, but I didn't know I was going to be tripped."

Surprise blossomed on Sakura's face, and he vaguely noticed Ino's expression looking similar. The way he was staring at her must have been slightly unnerving, because Sakura quickly jerked her head away.

"W-Well, since you actually seem to mean it... fine, I forgive you. This time."

Naruto had to fight the urge to place his hands behind his head and give her a big grin. As much as he wanted to, Kyuubi's voice still rang about in his head. All of his progress would come undone if he looked like an idiot now.

"Is there something else you want, or are you going to keep standing there?"

This time it was Ino who spoke up, Naruto glanced at her, nodding briefly, before turning his attention back to Sakura, who was once again giving him the same wary look from when he first entered the classroom.

"One more thing. Would... would you go on a date with me, Sakura-chan?"

At first, Sakura bristled in her usual manner and looked ready to call him an idiot and hit him over the head, as was their usual scene. This time though, any words she was going to say to him appeared to die on her lips - her mouth opened, but no sounds came out.

Her mouth clicked shut, and Naruto wasn't certain but it looked like a light blush formed across her cheeks just before she spun away in her seat, closing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. Naruto stood there, waiting patiently for her to answer, as she was obviously turning the question every which way in her head. Once again he found himself resisting the urge to place his hands behind his head and grin.

Sakura opened one eye to see if he was still there, and he heard her sigh lightly before she opened both of them and turned back towards him. There was a slight frown on her lips, so before she could say anything, Naruto decided to fall back on some more of Kyuubi's _so far_ helpful advice.

Holding up a hand, open palmed and facing outward toward her, she frowned yet again, but this time one of her eyebrows rose sharply. Now she was looking like she was going to beat him upside the head, so he tried to speak quickly and get it all out.

"L-Look, Sakura-chan. I know you say you like Sasuke all the time, that's fine, but he turns down everyone who asks him on dates. I'm just asking for one, that's all. I'm hoping you'll like it, but if you don't..." Naruto let out a little sigh, shaking his head as he thought back on his conversation with Kyuubi, "If you don't like it, then I promise I'll never ask you again."

He dropped his hand, and watched as Sakura's face went through a quick series of emotions. It started out as shock and surprise as an intense blush worked across her face, followed by a quick glance at where Naruto briefly remembered Sasuke was sitting. The brooding teen must have been looking at them, because she visibly panicked and quickly whirled around in her seat, her back almost completely to Naruto now as she pleaded with Ino.

"Ino! What should I do? I don't know!"

Ino was only partially paying attention to Sakura, as she was still looking at Naruto, surprise etched on every corner of her face. It wasn't until Sakura grabbed the girl's shoulder that she completely focused on what her rival was asking.

"What do I... I think... you should, um, probably do it."

Ino sounded as if she didn't really believe herself when she was talking, which just seemed to aggravate Sakura. Naruto simply stood there, waiting, his fists clenching and releasing rapidly. It was getting to the point where he was about to shrug the whole situation off. He had no idea his heart could beat this fast, and he couldn't really ever remember being this nervous over a simple yes or no his entire life so far.

He focused on Sakura once again when he could no longer hear her talking, only for him to notice that she was looking at him over her shoulder with her eyes half closed as if she was sizing him up. Naruto tried to give her a small sincere smile, but as soon as he did Sakura's eyes opened and her eyebrows shot sky-high, followed by her head jerking around to face Ino once again.

"A-ha! I'm on to you now, Ino-pig!"

Ino simply stared at Sakura, blinking owlishly. "What?"

Sakura faced forward in her seat, arms crossed over her chest again, eyes closed, and a smug grin on her face as she spoke, "I bet you talked to Naruto some time before class and asked him to do this, and then told me to say yes to him so I'd no longer be competing for Sasuke-kun! It seems that your plan has backfired!"

Still blinking, Ino began to slowly shake her head. "Uh... no. I don't talk to Naruto. I'm just as surprised as you."

"Hah! Of course you're going to deny it. It all makes sense now."

"What are you talking about Forehead? I will win Sasuke-kun on my own, there is no reason for me to resort to such dirty tricks!"

Naruto let out the breath he didn't remember holding as the two constantly competing rivals fell into another one of their arguments. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Naruto realized that he didn't even get a yes or no, he was simply ignored, which is exactly what he was afraid of. It would have been easier if she had simply said no. Sakura had seemed to consider his offer for a while, which raised his hopes... but deep down he had a feeling it would end this way.

Kyuubi _had_ sort of prepared him for this outcome, in its own way. On no uncertain terms, it had declared Naruto was too young for things like this, but was willing to humor him anyway.

Turning away from the two girls, Naruto walked to the row directly across from them. There was an empty seat at the end of the row, to which he immediately sat down on, only to lean forward and place his face in his hands as his elbows rested on the desk. Kyuubi would now hold him to the bet they made, which meant no more goofing off. He was going to be a shinobi soon anyway, so that made sense. So what if he had to put up with being ignored for a little while - he'd be Hokage eventually anyway.

Leaning back in his seat, he tuned out the two still arguing girls, turning his head to look out the window. In so doing, he realized that he actually sat down a seat over from Sasuke, and there was only that empty seat between them.

"Hey, Sasuke."

The other boy was leaning forward slightly, his hands folded in front of his face as his elbows rested on the desk - it was how Naruto typically saw him sitting if there was nothing else going on. Sasuke didn't acknowledge him with much more than a glance from his peripheral vision and a raised eyebrow.

"What do all the girls like so much about you, anyway?"

Sasuke actually turned his head in Naruto's direction this time, beginning a sort of staring contest for nearly a full minute before the raven haired boy looked away.

"If I knew, I would stop it. They all annoy me."

Naruto growled internally. That answer was much too similar to ones that Kyuubi gave him. Essentially it was an answer that didn't really clarify anything. Something told him Sasuke knew exactly what caused the girls to swoon all over him, but the Uchiha simply chose to ignore it.

Naruto was about to snap out a retort, but the classroom door opened, and one of his classmates stepped through with a large grin on his face and a forehead protector in his hands. He began talking excitedly to another one of his classmates in the front row as Iruka-sensei leaned in through the doorway, announcing for the next student to follow him.

The reminder of the exam was all Naruto needed to forget about Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest - and to proceed back into his mind to work on his control some more.

* * *

"Iruka-kun, do you have a moment?"

The young Chuunin's back went rigid as he promptly whirled to his right, where the Sandaime Hokage was currently gazing up at him.

"O-Of course, Hokage-sama! What can I do for you?"

The Sandaime gestured with his head back towards the entrance of the Academy, and Iruka immediately fell into step next to him after excusing himself from the parents he was talking to. There were no words spoken as they traveled back to the entrance, Iruka was a stickler for rules, and common courtesy was that the Hokage always spoke first.

Hiruzen did notice as Iruka discreetly looked back over his shoulder, towards where a boy was sitting alone on a swing at the far end of the Academy grounds. If the situation were not so serious, the act might have brought a fond smile to the Hokage's face.

As soon as they entered the school building, Hiruzen continued walking down the hallways, casually greeting other teachers and students still in the school, Iruka doing likewise when appropriate. It wasn't until they entered the empty teachers lounge, and Iruka closed the sliding door behind them, that the Hokage spoke.

"You still don't agree with this entire process. I can tell."

Iruka immediately stiffened, but eventually shook his head as he sat down in the chair at his desk. The Hokage sat down in another chair across from his.

"No, Hokage-sama, I don't agree. It wasn't fair to him. He should have passed."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slowly. "I agree with you."

Iruka looked at the Hokage, shocked. "But then... but then why-"

A hand went up, and Iruka's mouth clicked shut. Of all people for him to question...

"I understand your frustration completely. Were I in your shoes, I know I'd be feeling the same way. What I couldn't tell you before is that there are several other things going on that influenced the way this whole situation has played out. Naruto is a strong boy, he can handle it, since I have it on good authority that he will be a shinobi by this time tomorrow."

The first thing Iruka felt go through his system was relief, followed by sadness and a bit of anger. "I think I understand, Hokage-sama, but for the record I don't believe it was fair."

"Perhaps it wasn't. But that's why it's my duty to make the decisions like this. Allow me to explain a little more, and perhaps then you'll be able to fully comprehend my reasoning."

The scarred Chuunin simply nodded, leaning back in his chair as the Hokage started his explanation.

"As I told you before, I have always planned to have Naruto be placed under Hatake Kakashi, for more than one reason. If Naruto had passed his first graduation exam, he likely would be a Chuunin himself, by now. However he did not pass, therefore we had placed several contingency plans into effect.

"Naruto's test was altered so that he failed his second exam on purpose. The reason for this was because one year was too little time for Kakashi to train Naruto, I didn't want to push the boy out from Kakashi's tutelage too early. There was another student coming along that I had to place under Kakashi as well, because of his eyes."

Realization was slowly dawning on Iruka's face as the Hokage continued. Hiruzen found himself smiling slowly as Iruka began to realize what was going on.

"Now I know you're probably curious as to why Naruto still hasn't passed, and why I had you mess with his grades. It is common knowledge that the first and second best students in their overall grades get partnered up with the worst student, because that is the best we can hope to salvage from the _failures._"

The emphasis placed on the word 'failures' was not lost on Iruka, and he sighed as it all started to fall into place. Naruto hadn't failed any of his tests, in fact he had fallen around the middle of the class for most of them, including the written test. However, the Hokage had assigned Iruka a mission to mess with Naruto's grades, to make them just one point worse than the overall worst person in the class.

Nara Shikamaru just happened to be the person with the worst overall grades in class. Having him on a team with the smartest girl and arguably second smartest boy in the class, after the _real_ Shikamaru that was sharp witted and incredibly intelligent, would have made them a superb team. However other plans were in effect that would keep that from becoming a reality, the latest of which Iruka was currently learning.

Of course it went without saying that he felt dirty and horrible for messing with the grades of one of his students, espeically one that was doing fairly well for himself. That might have been part of the reason why he made sure to take special care of Naruto outside of the Academy - in the beginning, at least. After while the blond had simply started growing on him, and he found himself looking forward to spending time with the boy outside of the classroom.

But the look on Naruto's face when he had to tell the blond that he had failed to make perfect clones... that would be something that lived with him forever. If he hadn't edited Naruto's grades, the boy still could have passed based on his performance in other categories, and he only would have had to edit the grade slightly to keep him as the overall worst in the class. In an ironic way, it made him feel even worse because he was essentialy being paid to fail the boy.

As if he was picking up Iruka's distress, the Hokage placed a wrinkled yet strong hand on the Chuunin's shoulder. "Iruka, Naruto's failing of the clone test was not your fault. There is another thing I need to tell you, and another mission I need to give you."

Nodding slowly, Iruka gave the Hokage grim smile, and awaited his assignment.

Clearing his throat, the Sandaime continued, "I read your report after the final test, and I could tell you were confused about why Mizuki would seemingly want to nitpick on Naruto's clones when you usually saw him as being the more lenient of the two of you. Over the past several months, I've been made aware of a spy within Konoha."

Iruka immediately sat up straight, focusing completely on the Hokage's words. "You dont mean..."

Sarutobi simply tapped the desk he was sitting at. Iruka looked, and realized with a start that it was his assistant's desk... Mizuki.

"What? How?"

"The person he is spying for has many means of getting information in and out of Konoha, of that I am certain. You don't need to concern yourself with that, however. We leave some channels of communication open, simply so we can know who uses them. In this case, your assistant has been using one of those methods frequently, and we know what he is after. Konoha's Forbidden Scroll."

Iruka paled at the implications behind what the Hokage was saying. Granted, the Forbidden Scroll wasn't in the most difficult of places to access, but since it was located just outside the Hokage's office, any attempt at stealing it was like trying to commit suicide. Between the Hokage and ANBU that guarded him at all times, there was a lot to deal with before even attempting to take it.

"But he couldn't possibly... wait..."

Iruka worked it through his head for several moments as the Hokage simply watched him, waiting for the Chuunin to piece it together in his head. It wasn't long before Iruka had his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth slowly.

"So that's why he wanted to fail Naruto, it's his plan to get the scroll. If Naruto can't get it, he should prove to be enough of a distraction to allow Mizuki to get by and take it himself. Nearly everyone in the village, especially the shinobi, know that you and Naruto are fairly close, and he plans to use that to his advantage."

Hiruzen smiled at the teacher, nodding. "Very good. We anticipate that Mizuki will have a meeting location set up, should Naruto somehow manage to get the scroll. I've told my ANBU to stand down and shadow Naruto, should he get by me. I'm actually excited and curious to see how he would do it."

"You... don't mind if he gets the scroll?"

The Hokage actually laughed at that. "I've actually already noted a section of the scroll that I'm certain he'll focus on as soon as he sees what I've written. It should help him out with his clone creation problem."

"But the only thing I can think of that would be similar and in that scroll... is the Shadow Clone technique, isn't it? But the rank of that technique-"

"It is S-Ranked and forbidden, yes. However, the main reason it is forbidden is because of the chakra drain. To someone like Naruto, it will likely barely tap his reserves. If he learns of its secondary function, he could literally be unstoppable by the time he's twenty years old."

"Unst... but wha... what could make someone _that_ strong in so little time?" Iruka's voice was dripping with incredulity. Even the Densetsu no Sannin weren't recognized as such until they were in their early twenties, and powerful though they were, they weren't exactly unstoppable.

The Hokage grinned, and wagged a finger back and forth. "Ah-ah. It's forbidden for another reason too. I'm afraid that's all I can say."

Chuckling as he shook his head, Iruka couldn't help but let out a sigh. "So... when does my mission start?"

"Ah, yes - while you were thinking, one of my ANBU motioned to me through the window that Mizuki has made contact. They will shadow Naruto for the rest of the day. As soon as you leave the school, one of them will hand you a communicator so that you may listen in and follow what is happening."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen chuckled as he stood up, stretching slightly. "I hope you're a good actor, Iruka-kun. You'll need to make it look like you have no idea what's going on in front of everyone, myself included."

Iruka couldn't help but grin. "It's been a while since I've been able to do any pranks, but I think I can manage."

* * *

"Naruto? What are you doing here? Only those who graduated are supposed to be here today."

Naruto simply grinned at the classmate who asked him, and jerked a thumb at his forehead protector - the exact same one that all the other graduates were wearing. "Whaddaya think this is? I completed a mission Mizuki-sensei gave me, and they made me a shinobi!"

"A mission? What did you have to do?"

Another classmate asked this question, and Naruto noticed that several people were now paying attention to him, likely interested in what he had done. Even Sasuke had turned to look at him.

"Well... you see, Mizuki-sensei had asked me to get him a scroll..."

Naruto proceeded to regale the few classmates of his that were listening in about how Mizuki wanted him to take a scroll from the guarded section of the shinobi archives. If he could do it, then they would acknowledge he was shinobi material. Of course, it was a greatly edited version to downplay what he actually did, since several things needed to be kept secret. They couldn't know about Kyuubi, obviously, nor about the Forbidden Scroll and how Mizuki-sensei was actually a traitor after the Forbidden Scroll.

Of course, every time Naruto thought about Mizuki he had to hold back laughter at the look of surprise on the Chuunin's face when he tried to tell Naruto that he was the Kyuubi. Naruto simply scoffed at him, said he knew the Kyuubi was sealed in him, and proceeded to use his newly-learned Shadow Clone technique to beat Mizuki's face in, since his 'sensei' had broken the 'no telling' rule. The fact that Mizuki was threatening him and had injured Iruka-sensei, who had come to investigate and tell Naruto what was really going on didn't give him any reason to hold back, either.

His story told, most of his classmates that were listening in seemed to accept it, with a few tossing him skeptical glances, though no one challenged him outright. Even Sasuke seemed to accept it, and appeared to be giving Naruto a more critical appraisal than he ever had before.

"Naruto!"

_That_ was his name, being called by a voice he clearly recognized. Turning to look, his eyes widened slightly as Sakura stood before him. Briefly recalling the scene from yesterday, his heart started beating faster. After hearing of his mission, perhaps she had-

"Can you move? I want to sit on the other side of you, next to Sasuke-kun!"

His fragile hopes dashed once again, Naruto turned his head the other way to see Sasuke simply scoff and shake his head. Remembering that he had been ignored yesterday, he pretty much classified that as the 'no' answer and he was going to follow up on his promise to not ask her again. Shrugging his shoulders, the blond pivoted his lower body from where he was sitting. This effectively moved his legs into the main aisle, allowing Sakura to easily shift past him and over to the middle seat of their row.

When she didn't move to go past him immediately, as he would have expected, he looked up at her curiously. For some reason she was hesitating, but as soon as his eyes met hers, she broke contact and quickly moved past him with a murmured thanks. Shifting back properly into his seat, Naruto did his best to not look in the direction where he could hear Sakura's monologue of love coming from.

He didn't have to ignore it for long, however, as Iruka-sensei walked through the door shortly after, effectively stopping most of the conversations currently taking place. Naruto closed his eyes as he leaned back in his seat, listening to Iruka drone on about congratulations and what it meant to be a shinobi. He found himself nodding his head on occasion, to show that he was listening, even just barely. The blond figured it was probably a good time to go speak to the Kyuubi about their bet; the time spent in his mind was only a fraction of the time spent out in the 'real' world, and he had been too tired to concentrate last night.

**"I was expecting you sooner."**

Opening his eyes, Naruto saw that he was standing in front of the Kyuubi's prison, as usual. He had gotten better in the last few months of appearing exactly where he wanted to in his own mind, instead of having to travel through tunnels to get here. Kyuubi had attributed it to both his growing concentration and chakra control.

"Sorry. I was too tired last night after... everything that happened. I couldn't concentrate, and fell asleep."

**"I am aware. I meant I was expecting you earlier today."**

"Oh." Naruto scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "I uh... didn't think about it before now, honestly."

Kyuubi grumbled slightly from behind the bars, but otherwise said nothing.

"Hey, um... you won the bet from yesterday, remember? So... I won't goof off for attention anymore, okay?"

He was expecting Kyuubi to open an eye and look at him, but it didn't.

**"I decided yesterday that I would not hold you to that bet. The terms were that you would get a yes or no answer. You received neither, therefore the bet is void."**

Naruto had to brace himself slightly as a wave of hot air - the Kyuubi's breath, it didn't stink at all like he thought it would - washed over him, blowing at his hair and clothes.

**"However, I think it would be in your best interests to act more seriously from now on. You are recognized as a shinobi of your village, and while you are still but a child, people will look at you differently from someone who is your age and not a shinobi."**

Naruto pondered this for a few moments. If nothing else, it was worth a shot. The Kyuubi said it wasn't holding him to the bet, so if things didn't work out, a prank or three wouldn't hurt. Nodding to himself, Naruto closed his eyes and imagined himself back outside of his body. When he became aware again, Iruka was preparing to read off the team lists. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room as various classmates reacted to hearing who their teammates would be.

Strangely, he found himself not really caring who his teammates would be. Just a few days ago he really would have liked to have Sakura and didn't want Sasuke, but Kyuubi told him it didn't really matter since no Hidden Village would turn down a good shinobi who shows promise anyway even if their teammates are horrible, they'll just put them somewhere else. It sort of put a damper on things, but nothing Kyuubi had said to him so far had ended up being false, so he understood that so long as he proved he was capable, they'd put him anywhere.

"Team Seven will consist of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto saw Sakura jump up in a cheer about halfway through the team announcement, then go rigid and slowly sit back down when his own name was announced. Sasuke didn't move at all, which Naruto expected, but he was puzzled by Sakura's reaction. He had expected her to groan and complain, or at least _something_ other than what she was doing now.

That something was looking at him warily, yet again. Iruka was just finishing up listing teams, and moved right into giving a congratulations speech, so he wasn't about to ask her what was wrong just yet. He tried to ignore it, but she wasn't exactly being discreet about staring a hole in his head.

"That's all I have to say for now. Take a break for the next half an hour, your Jounin sensei are still in a meeting with the Hokage and won't be out for a little while. When we come back, your teams will leave one by one. Dismissed."

By the time Iruka had exited the room, Naruto forgot all about Sakura, and immediately headed for the exit. Iruka mentioned food, and whenever food was mentioned, all Naruto could think about was gods of ramen demanded he visit, and Naruto was more than happy to oblige.

* * *

"Okay, I guess we should get this meeting started by introducing ourselves to each other." Nodding his head, he waited for one of the three in front of him to take the cue and start talking. The girl of their group did, but not quite in the way he was expecting.

"Uh... sensei, we don't know anything about you. Maybe you should start and show us how it's done?"

"Right. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have... a few things that I like and dislike. I have dreams... well, they're more like hobbies. Okay, you next."

Kakashi pointed at Naruto, who was frowning. Sakura echoed his thoughts, that all the man in front of them told them was his name; they still knew nothing about him. Sighing, Naruto slowly shook his head, then began to talk.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, gardening, and training. I don't like the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, arrogant know-it-alls, and being ignored. My dream is to one day be Hokage so that everyone will acknowledge me."

Kakashi was giving Naruto what he would have had to call a bored look. Giving a miniscule nod in Naruto's direction, he turned his head to the next person in line.

"Nice dream. Okay, you next."

"My name is Haruno Sakura." She blinked, then giggled a little and turned her head slightly towards Sasuke. "Well, I like... um..." Giggling again, she covered her mouth with her hands, and spoke through them, "My dream is to... well..." More giggles.

Naruto had seen this before many times, it was annoying but didn't really affect him any more, especially after yesterday. He had to hold back a snicker, though, as he watched his new sensei roll his visible eye.

"My dislikes? I hate Na-" Naruto stiffened as he heard the beginning of his name come from her mouth. If he had to be honest with himself, he knew it was coming, but it would still hurt to hear it. When the silence dragged on, however, he turned a curious glance towards her. For some reason she flinched as he looked over, but then she quickly looked away and muttered a 'nevermind' and didn't appear inclined to say anything further.

"How thoroughly interesting. You. Next."

Sasuke grunted, let out an extended sigh, then began talking. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I like training and learning new techniques. I don't like sweets, and I hate idiots with big mouths. My dream... no, my ambition is to kill a certain man, and then restore my clan."

Naruto and Sakura both looked over towards Sasuke in surprise, it was the longest either of them had ever heard him speak and not say something condescending at the same time.

"Thats nice. Alright you three, each of you take one of these memos. It has the information on it that you need to prepare for your survival training tomorrow."

"Survival... training?" Sakura looked up at Kakashi with a puzzled expression as she received the memo. "But didn't we already pass the Academy? We did survival training there."

Kakashi nodded slowly. "That's true, you did. But this is different. The training from the Academy was testing you to make sure you have the _ability_ to become Genin. If you pass this training tomorrow, then you become official Genin and can start taking missions."

"So what's the catch?"

The other three turned to Naruto and stared at him with varying degrees of surprise. Sakura was wide-eyed once again, Sasuke was squinting at him, and Kakashi simply seemed to have honest curiosity on his visible features.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto briefly scratched the back of his head, offering his new sensei a puzzled look. "Well, they aways tell us far in advance if we had a test coming up in the Academy. But if they didn't tell us about this, that must mean it's really hard, right? Why else wouldn't they warn us?"

Kakashi chuckled lightly as he gave Naruto a somewhat appraising stare. It was still hard to tell, as most of the man's face was covered by his headband and a mask.

"Well, you're pretty sharp after all. That's a good sign. The catch is that of the twenty seven graduates, it's likely that only three teams will pass this test. That's nine people. It has a sixty six percent failure rate consistently, pretty much every time this test is given. So I suggest you all get plenty of rest and don't eat breakfast, otherwise you might puke."

That said, Kakashi promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura sat there staring agape at where their new sensei was a moment ago, but both Sasuke and Naruto rose to their feet at the same time.

"Well, see you guys tomorrow morning. Later!" Naruto waved a hand, catching the attention of the other two, then promptly began jogging towards the stairs that they arrived from.

"Hn." Sasuke didn't linger around either, walking in the same direction as Naruto, but at a slower pace.

"Ah! W-Wait for me, Sasuke-kun!"

* * *

"Naruto! Hey, Naruto!"

The blond stopped walking, turning around for the familiar voice. He had just left Ichiraku after a nice big celebratory meal because his team passed the second graduation test, and he couldn't help but be in high spirits.

Placing his hands behind his head and offering a big smile, he greeted the girl who ran up next to him, "Hey, Sakura-chan! What's up?"

The pink haired girl was panting slightly, and leaning over with her hands on her knees. After a few seconds, she straightened, then gave him a slightly puzzled look.

"I'm sorry about earlier, when we were all leaving I was so busy listening to Kakashi-sensei that I forgot we left you tied to the pole. How did you get out? I've been all over the village looking for you."

Naruto's grin became more of a grim one as he dropped his hands, then jerked a thumb against his chest.

"I'm a shinobi, remember? It didn't take me that long to get out of it."

That was enough of an answer to cause Sakura to go red in the face from embarrassment and look away quickly, muttering more apologies.

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto idly looked about for a few seconds, watching various people walk by on the street. Ichiraku was located on one of the main paths in the village, so it got a fair amount of traffic; not quite enough to get lost in even during the busiest parts of the day, but enough to give anyone standing around enough to look at.

Turning back towards Sakura after a few moments, he was slightly startled to see that she was staring at him again. Apparently she realized that she was staring when their eyes met, as she let out a squeaky noise and promptly turned away again, but didn't move away from him.

"Is something wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"Huh?" Sakura turned to look in his direction again and was obviously still blushing, though she was looking everywhere but his face. "Oh... uhm... well, I was wondering... are... are you, well, okay?"

Naruto's head tilted to the left as he looked at her, puzzled. He made a slight show of looking at each of his hands and arms, then down at his torso and legs. Looking at her once again, the puzzled expression remained.

"Yeah, I feel fine Sakura-chan. Do I look hurt, or something?"

His teammate hesistated for a few seconds, before quickly shaking her head. "I don't mean physically - I mean, you _look_ like you're okay. But you've been acting... well... different."

So _that's_ where this was going. Kyuubi had warned him later that day that people might question his 'change' in personality, even if it always was his real one and he was just goofing around for attention before.

"I'm not different, Sakura-chan. This is me. I was just playing around before because it was fun. But I'm a shinobi now... I can't really act like that anymore. I've gotta grow up."

Sakura once again looked shocked, her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. Eventually she looked down at her feet and spoke quietly, "You know, if you acted like this all the time, when you asked me out on a date I might have said yes."

Naruto winced internally, and he was pretty sure it showed on his face too. From her posture and sad expression, not to mention the whimsical tone to her voice, she likely didn't mean it in a harmful way... but it still hurt.

"Well, you were never able to give me a yes or no answer even once, anyway. You either ignored me or called me annoying or an idiot."

Sakura 's expression was bouncing back and forth between forlorn and angry... her eyes were squinting and appeared to be getting wet. It didn't take long for her to start yelling, however. "Well what did you expect me to do? You _were_ always acting like an idiot in front of everyone! Any time I tried to get Sasuke-kun's attention, you were constantly in my way, trying to get mine!"

Naruto let her words sink in for a moment before shaking his head and sighing.

"I tried to get your attention because I like you, Sakura-chan. That's all."

Sakura let out a small choked gasp as he spoke, her fists were clenched and he could see her shaking. Naruto was surprised with himself, being able to tell her that he liked her so directly, yet strangely he also felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. His heartbeat was also slowing down again as he relaxed; strangely, he couldn't recall when it started beating faster.

His teammate's expression had displayed the entire spectrum of emotions so far in their short encounter, and now it was flickering between embarrasment and outrage, but she seemed to be having a hard time coming up with something to say. Because of that, Naruto figured it would be best if he simply finished it for them.

"You never gave me an answer when I asked you for that one last chance, so I guessed it would have been a no anyway. You can give the bastard all the attention you want to now, Sakura-chan, because like I promised I won't ask you on dates anymore."

He tried to avoid looking at her as he finished his statement, barely noticing as her expression finally closed in on itself, then proceeded to turn around and walk away. Waving a hand, he spoke over his shoulder, "See you during tomorrow's training, Sakura-chan."

That said, he continued walking.

Sakura didn't follow.

* * *

Naruto grunted as he sat down in front of the tree he was supposed to be climbing. Well, not exactly climbing, but more like running up the side of it. Of course he had seen shinobi in the village climbing up walls all the time, but it was such a natural occurance that as he got older, he didn't really think much about it.

He knew that it would eventually be an acquired skill, but he had no idea that it would be this annoying to obtain it. Part of the problem, he figured, was that he was still aggravated by that little twerp Inari's comments just over an hour ago before they began training. Team Seven, his team, was staying at their client's place. It belonged to some drunk bridge builder named Tazuna, along with his daughter Tsunami and his grandson, Inari.

The kid kept telling them they were going to die, and it was all Naruto could do to hold his temper in check. That wasn't the worst of it either, apparently Inari had a really hard life, and everyone from Konoha had very simple, easy lives. Naruto noticed Sasuke visibly twitch a few times, and he knew his own face was turning red as his anger increased; if it wasn't for Sakura tugging slightly on his jacket arm and pulling him outside, he likely would have started a shouting match.

On their way to the training area, Kakashi had admitted he was impressed that they all managed to keep quiet, as it was probably for the best. Naruto knew Kakashi's eyes were on him as his sensei spoke, likely because Kakashi was surprised that he had remained silent as well. Sasuke, as always, didn't appear to care one way or the other, and Sakura was giving him the strange looks again.

Thinking about his pink haired teammate caused his thoughts to slant off in a new direction. Naruto honestly had no idea what was going on in Sakura's head, and he found himself hesitant to ask her what was wrong. Over the last few weeks of running D Ranked missions, she had been talking to him about regular, everyday things - it didn't matter who started the conversation, they were all civil and typically brief. It also wasn't difficult to notice that she was nagging Sasuke less often about dates, and as a result Sasuke had been slightly more receptive to talking with the both of them - so long as the conversation had a purpose.

That didn't mean that any of them were on 'best friend' terms; likely nowhere near it. Naruto was more confused by these changes than anything else, and whenever he went to Kyuubi for advice, it simply muttered something about 'human nature' and refused to elaborate, effectively leaving him to come to his own conclusions.

Leaning back and bracing his hands on the ground behind him, Naruto looked at the tree once again, checking his progress. He had made it barely a couple meters off the ground, according to his highest kunai scratch. There was a _crack_ noise to his left, and he turned his head to see Sasuke do a flip in the air, then land in a crouch as small pieces of bark fell around him. The raven-haired boy placed his hands on his hips and looked up at his latest scratch, which was easily several meters higher than Naruto's own.

"Hey Sasuke, do you have any tips for me?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and let out a snort, then bolted for the tree one more time. Shaking his head, Naruto turned slightly to look over at Sakura, who had finished climbing her tree a while ago. He noticed her head jerk away as he spotted her in his vision, purposefully making it seem like she wasn't looking over at him.

It was yet one more thing that made him wonder what was going on. Many times when he had looked in Sakura's direction, he could notice her head shift away from him. She was obviously looking at him, or at least in his direction, but for some reason she always refused to make eye contact. It wasn't annoying or anything, but it was definitely disconcerting. He usually only got her glares or exasperated looks, and that had morphed into more neutral, worried, and curious glances over the past couple months.

Rolling his head back, Naruto looked up at the sky before he let his eyes close. He briefly contemplated going to ask the Kyuubi for advice, but part of him was hoping that he could figure this one out on his own. The Kyuubi had often given him advice regarding new techniques he was learning from school, and even when he learned the Shadow Clone technique, but it had never taught him anything original. Supposedly there was a chance he might have been taught one if he had won that bet... but since he didn't win, he'd never know now.

"Naruto?"

The blond's eyes shot open and he sat upright, looking to his right where he heard the feminine voice. Sakura was sitting there next to him on her knees, a careful distance away but still close enough to where she could talk quietly and he would be able to hear.

"What's up, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura immediately looked away for a second, in the direction of Sasuke, who was currently sitting on a low tree branch and staring at his latest marking. Naruto followed her gaze, only to snap back towards her when he heard her inhale, then ask a question.

"Do you want me to give you some pointers?"

Naruto blinked, and he realized that his mouth was likely hanging open, so he immediately closed it with a slight _'click'_ noise. His reaction must have amused Sakura in some way, because the corners of her lips were definitely twitching upwards.

"U-Uh... sure, Sakura-chan! Anything you can tell me would be great!"

He was sorely tempted to give her a big grin as a form of thanks, but decided against it as she had been more receptive to him when he didn't do that. It was likely the better choice, as she immediately started rattling off a list of things he needed to do in his mind to prepare. She even recognized that it was likely easier for her since she had a small amount of chakra compared to him and Sasuke - something that he hadn't even thought of.

The two of them went over some brief excercises of Sakura's that she claimed always helped her focus. Naruto wasn't sure how well they would work since he simply had _so much_ chakra, but at this point he was willing to take any pointers he could get. As soon as the little impromptu study session was concluded, Naruto hopped up to his feet and simply focused.

Calming his mind, he first imagined his chakra flowing through his body, then began to gradually pay more attention to the chakra running through the coils in his feet. As Sakura said, when first learning things, it was best to take it slow and steady. Eventually with enough practice, things like this would become second nature.

Imagining his chakra reaching like a hand and grabbing hold of the ground underneath him, Naruto then focused on releasing the grip just enough so that it could be firmly re-established as soon as he put the foot down again. He could feel both of his teammates eyes on him as he walked around in a slow circle on the ground, getting a feel for his chakra grabbing and releasing.

Slowly he walked faster and faster, until he got up to a small jog. After getting enough of a feel for it, he stopped in front of the tree, and looked up it one more time.

Sakura started to say something, but he didn't hear her as he took off at a sprint towards the tree looming ahead of him. As he approached the base, he promptly leaned backwards, letting his first foot release from the rough dirt below and latch onto the rough bark of the tree. At nearly a ninety degree angle, it was quite the momentum shift, but after a tiny stumble, Naruto focused on the grab and release of chakra under his feet.

Left, right, left, right, left, right. He kept going and going, still running full speed. The pull of gravity was grabbing for his head, shoulders, and back, willing him back down towards the ground, but the blond managed to find enough concentration to reinforce his legs and hips, and continued running up, higher and higher.

After dodging two branches, he finally noticed that he was running out of room to place his feet. The trunk of the tree was getting smaller the closer he got to the top, and eventually there was nothing left for him to step on. His momentum kept him going up into the air for a brief moment, and he hung comically suspended in the air for a handful of seconds before landing on the top of the tree, where the trunk split off into two small horizontal branches, leaving a spot to stand in the middle.

Naruto inhaled deeply, shocked that he made it all the way to the top after a few small pointers from Sakura. Thanks to her, this was one thing he wouldn't need to bother the Kyuubi about. He was pretty sure that he heard her shouting congratulations from down below, but a nice breeze rustled through the leaves, drowning out most other sounds.

After taking in the sights from the top of the canopy for a minute, he began looking for a clear way down. Seeing what looked to be a good spot, Naruto jumped a bit, falling down through the canopy below. As he burst through several bunches of leaves, they were obscuring a rather large branch almost directly under him. His original plan was to use the branch to slow his descent as he approached the ground, but the snap judgement proved to be his downfall. There was a resounding _crack_ noise as the combination of his weight from the freefall and his chakra grabbing the branch simply ripped a chunk of wood right out of it.

It slowed his descent, certainly, but it twisted him about at the same time. As a result, he landed on his back, knocking the wind out of him and leaving a distinct ringing noise in his ears as the back of his head hit the ground too. Naruto just lay there for a moment, staring up at the sky through the canopy, and didn't really focus on the voice he was hearing until a panicked face and a mop of pink hair obscured his vision.

"N-o? Naru-o! F-cus!"

His vision gradually cleared, and he began to inhale big gasps while trying not to cough at the same time. Sakura was waving a hand in front of his face, so he reached up to grab it as proof that he was coherent enough now. The ringing continued, but he could clearly focus on Sakura's words now, so it didn't bother him that much.

"Thank goodness! What happened? You did so good going up, but you messed up coming back down!"

The blond nodded, still inhaling deeply and coughing. In the middle of one of his coughing fits, a funny thought struck him, causing him to laugh and cough even harder. Sakura started to fuss over him, but he simply waved her off and tried to smile through the coughing and watery eyes.

"I just... I just thought it was... pretty funny."

Sakura seemed puzzled, but worry was still the most visible emotion on her face. "What was funny about you crashing to the ground?"

Naruto chuckled and coughed again, shaking his head as his breathing finally starting to settle down. "I just thought that I was so cool getting up there in one run... only to make an idiot of myself on the way down. The worst part is that this time I didn't _want_ to."

Naruto rubbed his chest as he laughed, finally sitting up a little. He absently noticed that Sakura had gotten down on her knees next to him at some point, as she was now climbing back to her feet. The worry that was on her face before had vanished, and her relief was obvious. He was cracking jokes now, and she apparently couldn't help the small grin that worked its way onto her face.

Shaking her head, she offered him a hand, which he graciously accepted. "Silly. Maybe you should just run down it next time, instead of jumping."

"Hey, that's a good idea. Wish I'd thought of it."

Sakura snorted and rolled her eyes but was grinning even more, but before either of them could say anything else, a colder voice interrupted them.

"Naruto. How did you do that?"

The two teammates looked at their third member briefly before both looking at each other again. Naruto couldn't help but frown; sure Sasuke was a frigid bastard, though he was sure that the Uchiha had been warming up to them a little over the past couple months. The name calling had pretty much stopped between the two of them unless one of them did something really stupid and deserved it, which was still progress.

But he couldn't understand why Sasuke had to act like he did. First he would refuse to help anyone, then when someone did things better than him, he expected help or answers automatically. Shaking his head, Naruto's frown grew deeper as he saw Sasuke scowl before he had even said anything.

"I can't tell you."

Before Sasuke could blurt out an angry comment, Naruto placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and spoke up quickly.

"But Sakura-chan can explain it. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to do it. I'd probably just mess something up and make you angry at me anyway."

The Uchiha's scowl immediately faded, and he gave a grunt and a barely perceptible nod - his way of saying that the explanation was acceptable. Naruto got a few private chuckles at his knowledge of Sasuke's facial expressions and grunts, he had developed a sort of 'grunt-sense' that let him know Sasuke's intent merely by the look on his face and the noises he made.

The blond gently pushed Sakura's shoulder forward, towards Sasuke. She took a few steps before turning and looking back towards him.

"Do... do you really think I can explain it?"

Naruto chuckled, then jerked his thumb up against his chest. "Sakura-chan, if you can teach _me_ how to do something, then all you have to do is breathe and the prodigy can probably figure it out. So don't worry. If he gives you a hard time, come tell me and I'll kick his ass!"

Sasuke's expression quickly soured once again, but for a change he decided against making any gutteral noises. Sakura on the other hand... she was actually smiling at Naruto for the first time in... well... ever. It wasn't just any smile, either. It was the same smile he had seen her gazing at Sasuke with.

Only this time, she was looking at the blond - directly into his eyes.

"Thank you, Naruto. I will."

* * *

The blond struggled to remain coherent as he pitched forward slightly, sluggishly moving one leg forward to balance himself. Wobbling on his feet, he looked around, having to spend more energy on movement than he would have liked. Unfortunately his peripheral vision had started going dark, and he could only see a small area directly in front of where he was.

He heard Sasuke's heavy breathing as well, and still failed to understand why his teammate had entered this ice prison. According to Sasuke, it was on Kakashi's orders, but the way Sasuke was focused on the masked ice user make Naruto think otherwise.

Sasuke had mumbled something about the masked shinobi in front of them having a familiar chakra signature, but he couldn't really place it. He had an idea, but needed to see who was behind the mask to confirm it. Something about it being similar to someone he met in the forest when he had passed out from exertion due to the tree exercise.

Apparently he had been out in the forest all night last night, continuing the exercise even after he had managed to climb the tree. According to the very brief explanation given, he met someone out there who seemed to be very similar to the person facing them now, though he wanted to confirm it. Unfortunately he was already running lower on chakra than he would have liked - there was an attempt on the lives of Tsunami and Inari, and then he had to expend more just getting to the bridge they were supposed to be protecting in a decent amount of time.

A whistling noise sounded from within the dome, and before Naruto could really think about what he was doing, he simply acted. Moving as fast as his legs could get him, he stood in front of Sasuke, taking in the multitudes of needles that were meant for his teammate. He grunted and hunched forward, spikes of brief pain followed by numbness overtook most of his extremities, he was having a hard time standing on his feet. Trying to pump chakra into various places on his body wasn't working either, he was simply going numb all over.

"N-Naruto? You idiot! Why did you take those for me? You're already weakened!"

Naruto snorted, turning his head completely to look at Sasuke's spinning sharingan via what little vision he had left.

"I... I don't know. You're... you're my friend. My teammate. I have to... I'm stronger, when I... when I have something to protect."

Naruto barely finished speaking before falling to his knees, thin senbon needles stuck in his legs snapping like twigs, but he didn't feel any more pain since his they were already numb. He was barely aware of falling forward onto his chest as his vision had faded out to nothingness. He swore he heard someone calling his name, but it sounded muffled, as if he was underwater.

No matter... for some reason, he felt really... really tired.

_drip... drip... drip..._

Did someone leave the water running?

_drip... drip... drip..._

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, only to see a ceiling made out of something that resembled brick.

_drip... drip... drip..._

Shooting upright with a large gasp, the blond shinobi placed his hand over his heart as he felt it begin beating a mile a minute. Taking several deep breaths in a row, he took a moment to get his bearings as he looked around where he was.

There was the Kyuubi's cage, it was still sealed, and he didn't really feel the Kyuubi's chakra any more than normal. So he wasn't dead... but somehow was forced into his subconscious. Looking around the room for more potential hints, the only thing of note was that the water-like substance that was usually about ankle high... was only about a centimeter in depth. What could that mean?

"Kyuubi? Are you awake?"

**"Yes."**

The deep, grating voice of the Kyuubi pressed down on his senses a little more than he was used to, but that was only a minor inconvenience right now.

"I know I'm not dead... but do you have any idea what's going on?"

There was a low growl from behind the bars, and the noise of something very large shifting position. That could mean that the explanation might be a long one, and he might not understand all of it.

**"Your opponent used senbon needles to strike at various pressure points and tenketsu on your body. This did two things; it made you numb, and severely restricted your chakra flow. Right now if anyone was to check on you, they would believe you were dead. Your chakra is flowing just enough to keep you from true death... nothing more."**

Naruto blinked rapidly as he began to process exactly what Kyuubi was saying. So he was dead... but he wasn't at the same time. Naturally his thoughts wandered towards what Sasuke must be thinking, and then what would happen with Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, the old man...

"But if I'm here then I'm not dead! How can I wake up again?"

There was a loud snort, and Naruto's clothes and hair blew about as the hot air washed over him.

**"You cannot."**

"Huh? I've always been able to wake up before!" Naruto closed his eyes and focused on waking up outside his body... but nothing was happening. He remained in his subconscious. "What the hell is going on?"

**"To any medic, you would be dead. Only an exceptional medic would be able to find the subtle traces of your chakra and recognize that you were in a deep, induced coma. Do not worry, your tenketsu will fix themselves gradually. You'll likely wake up in an hour or two, and be at full strength again by tomorrow."**

"I don't have that long!" Naruto slammed his fist against one of the large metal bars of the cage in aggravation. "My teammates are in danger out there and could die! I can't let it end like this! An hour is too long to wait!"

Frustrated, Naruto immediately spun away from the cage, and began pacing back and forth, a look of intense concentration on his face. After several minutes of this, he let out a grunt, then sat down on the ground, his head in his hands.

"I can't fail them, I need to think of a way... Ugh, I'll never be Hokage at this rate!"

**"Well... there **_**is**_** a way..."**

Naruto was immediately back on his feet, up at the cage bars once again. "What? How?"

**"You would need someone to open your tenketsu, that would awaken you. Since I am a separate chakra source, I can do this."**

"What are you waiting for? Do it!"

The Kyuubi made a rumbling noise before answering. **"It will hurt."**

That simple statement was enough to make Naruto take a step backward, eyes wide. In all the time he had known Kyuubi, it had _never_ warned him about something hurting before. Plenty of things he had done in the past had injured him, some of them were rather bad too. But the Kyuubi had never, ever warned him about pain before. Until now. That alone made him consider the offer for several moments.

"Thanks for the warning, but do whatever you have to do. I refuse to wait here until I wake up normally. Besides, if it's your power, I'm going to have to get used to it eventually, right?"

Naruto was grinning up into the blackness of the cage, hoping the Kyuubi would appreciate that response. Of course, he wasn't exactly looking forward to the pain, but it would be something that he'd have to deal with eventually. Might as well start adjusting to it now.

**"I can respect that answer. As a special consideration, tell those whose lives you value to get out of the way, because you will not be able to control my power. Now... prepare yourself."**

Before Naruto could say anything, an itching sensation began to work its way across his body, which eventually turned into an intense burning. It suddenly flared, and he felt himself come alive again. He would have screamed at the sheer... power and the... and the... _malice... hatred... pain... suffering..._

* * *

Naruto felt a weight and a slight dampness on his chest as his eyes opened wide and he inhaled sharply. With a startled cry, the cause of the pressure on his chest leaned up, shock on its... _her_, features.

"N-Naruto! You're... alive! I checked, and I swear... I swear your heart wasn't beating!"

The itching sensation was climing through his limbs now, his entire body was on pins and needles as the numbness was forcefully removed from him. Blinking and glancing at his teammate, he noticed that her hair was a mess and her eyes were bloodshot, tears smeared across her cheeks. She had obviously been crying a lot. For who... him?

Turning his eyes slightly, he saw the old bridge builder, Tazuna, looking at him with no small amount of surprise as well. Looking beyond the old man, he saw what appeared to be his opponent from before, on their knees and holding their shoulder, and Kakashi-sensei standing in an agressive stance but facing in another direction. He couldn't see Zabuza or Sasuke, though in the distance the mist was slowly clearing.

Something squeezed his hand, and he turned his head to stare at it, dumbly. It barely registered that Sakura was holding his hand, and she had moved her other one to his neck, apparently checking to make sure that he really was alive.

"Sa... Saku..."

"Naruto! How do you feel? Can you understand me? We thought you were dead!"

Her fantic look spoke volumes, and Naruto vaguely began to recall what Kyuubi told him before the pain hit. He needed to tell her to get away... from what, he didn't know, and that scared him. But as the numbness wore off, he felt the surging anger, the hatred for the person who had caused this pain for him, for his teammates, for the old man and his family and this entire village and...

Naruto sat upright, causing Sakura to gasp, then gradually climbed to his feet as the power surged through his body. He was angry... he was pissed... and this power felt _so good..._

"N-Naruto?"

His head turned to look at his teammate, who was starting to look scared. Scared of _him._ Sakura was looking at him in panic, but he didn't know why. She still had a vice-grip on his hand though, for whatever reason. He needed her to let go so that he could go stop her... their teams... pain. Suffering. Someone needed to die to fix it. Someone... kill... kill her... _kill her..._

No! "S-Sakura! Sakura-chan! Get... get back!"

"What? No! Naruto, what's wrong with you? You were just dead and now... and now..."

The well of power that Naruto had tried to hold back as it surged through him finally broke beyond what he could control, and he felt the air around him shift as whatever it was pushed outwards. Sakura was yanked from his grip... or pushed away, more accurately... and she hit the ground behind her with a pained cry. He was vaguely aware as he heard the old man grunt from somewhere nearby, apparently it hit him too.

Raising an arm, he saw as reddish-hued steam rised from the exposed areas on his arm through his jumpsuit. That was definitely new. But now was not the time for idle curiosities. Someone needed to _die._

Focusing his anger, the first person he thought of was the hunter nin impersonator. If it wasn't for them, he would not have had to take the fall for Sasuke, and they could all be working as a team and fighting... fighting...

He approached the hunter nin swiftly, who was too busy clutching the stump of their arm at the shoulder, apparently too concerned with that to pay attention to him. It would be such an easy target to kill.

No! Focusing again, he pushed back against the surging well of hate as he knew that this ninja was just the puppet of another, as they had said. Yes... just a tool... a tool for their master. Zabuza. Without a master, a tool is useless. With a new focus, Naruto sped past the injured ninja, who made no movement and still didn't even acknowledge that Naruto had just run by.

There. Zabuza was facing something... a crowd of... of mercenaries? It didn't matter. The missing nin was only looking at him over his shoulder, a look of curiosity? Maybe it was fear. Fear was good. Fear meant he would have a good death, because if it wasn't for him none of these bad things would be happening. Time to kill...

"What is that feeling? Is that blond twerp the one causing it? You guys, I'll double your pay! Get rid of Zabuza and that blond!"

Hate was replaced by confusion at the words. Naruto wanted to kill, but kill what? Why were these mercenaries going to kill Zabuza? They didn't get to kill Zabuza, he was going to kill Zabuza! But then... why did they want to?

Looking around briefly, Naruto finally took note of his sensei, Kakashi, who was standing very, very rigid. A cursory glance noted that he had one arm and hand spread out at his side, holding back an agitated looking Sasuke, while his other arm was covering a bloody gash over his chest.

_**"Kakashi-sensei. What's going on?"**_

"Naruto. Is that really you?"

_**"Of course it's me. Who else would it be? Now answer my question."**_

Naruto idly noted that Sasuke seemed surprised at something, an expression that only stood out because he had never seen it before. Kakashi, however, did not change, and simply answered the question.

"Remember we talked about Gato, the man behind all these problems? It seems he tricked Zabuza into attacking Tazuna - he was never going to pay him in the first place."

"Ha! That's right! You ninja are all so gullible, especially the ones who have forsaken their villages! Alright you morons, what are you standing around for? Get them!"

Naruto turned his gaze to Zabuza, who returned the stare evenly, expression openly readable since his mask-wrap was hanging in tatters around his neck.

_**"So it's true?"**_

The missing nin nodded briefly. "Yes."

Naruto smiled, and he was sure that his seemingly enhanced vision picked up on some of the hairs on the back of Zabuza's neck and head stand upright. _**"Good."**_

_They can all die. But first... Gato._

* * *

Less than five minutes after Naruto's last spoken word, a severed head that still had a look of complete surprise was dropped at Kakashi's feet. A few seconds after that, a twelve year old boy - spiky blood-splattered blond hair, orange and blue jumpsuit dyed a deep crimson - passed out on the ground next to it.

"Kakashi..."

"Later, Sasuke. _Much_ later."

* * *

**A/N:** So yeah, hi everyone. It's been a little while, and my first post in almost two months is a horrendously long chapter in my least-read still updating story. Go figure, maybe folks will get a kick out of this story now, since there is actually some meat with the potatoes. This chapter takes place while Naruto is still twelve, hence why so much happened. I wasn't going to re-hash EVERY scene from the manga, because that's just friggin' pointless, and as a result only the most pivotal scenes are shown. There are changes from canon, obviously, otherwise this fic wouldn't be at all interesting, would it?

Even if it looks like I'm headed in that direction, this will not be a NaruSaku fic. Just a reminder.

Lastly, as a bit of a shameless not-quite plug - if you have any interest in Naruto/manga parodies, browser-based games, or know what I'm talking about when I say 'Billy versus SNAKEMAN'', please check my profile. Thanks! (I updated my profile before posting this. If it hasn't updated yet, refresh the profile in a little bit.)


	5. Thirteen

**Age Thirteen**

_Three weeks before the Chuunin Exam Finals..._

_Thunk._

Naruto turned his head lazily to see if his kunai hit the target. Just like the dozens before, he usually managed to get them near the center, but rarely if ever hit the bullseye. Looking forward once again, he pulled a kunai from the pouch at his thigh and brought it up towards his face. Inspecting it briefly, he put his forefinger through the loop and spun it around a few times.

Tossing it up in the air, it looped once before falling back down towards him. He quickly shot his hand out to grab the handle, then closed his eyes and imagined his target. Focusing for a moment, he quickly brought his arm across the front of his body, flinging the kunai towards the target.

_Thunk._

Opening his eyes and turning to look once again, this one hit the second ring closest to the outside. Even worse than his last throw.

Sighing to himself, Naruto reached into his pouch once again, only to find it empty. Grumbling to no one in particular, he turned to go pull his kunai from around the target and try again - that is, until a feminine voice halted him in his tracks, causing him to turn around.

"Naruto?"

Looking in the direction the voice came from, he saw the girl from Team Gai walking along the path towards where his current training area before. He didn't know her that well, but she obviously knew who he was. Everyone from the first part of the Chuunin exams likely did.

"Hey there... uhh..."

Tenten gave him a small pout, followed by a small smile as she walked closer. "Tenten."

"Ah... yeah! Tenten. Sorry... I forgot."

The girl waved off his apology as he looked at her sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "It's fine. I know you've probably only heard my name a couple times, whereas you seem to be the talk of the exams."

Naruto looked genuinely surprised. "Really?"

Now it was Tenten's turn to look surprised about him being clueless. "Yeah. All I hear about is how your team survived an ambush by Orochimaru, how your team is probably one of the strongest Konoha has entered into the exams in a while, and stuff like that. I heard Gai-sensei grumbling about how _unyouthful _it is that people are placing bets already that your team will sweep the exams."

While Naruto started to look pleased at first, that quickly faded when Tenten began talking about his team. That was an entirely different matter. While things weren't bad between them, they had all been giving each other a rather wide berth since their mission to Wave, which was just over two months ago now. At the end of that mission, he had woken up being carried on Kakashi's back as they were traveling back to Konoha. To his surprise, Zabuza was there as well, and so was Haku. Noticing Haku only had one arm and was carrying a package in it, he asked, only to find out that it was his arm that had been ripped off by Kakashi's chidori. Since it was removed cleanly, he had frozen the arm in hopes that someone could perhaps reattach it. They were going to Konoha to ask for asylum in hopes that a doctor there would be willing to perform the operation.

Feeling queasy upon realizing that it was Haku's frozen arm in the package, Naruto had remained silent for the remainder of the trip. He wasn't the only one who was silent either. Sasuke kept looking like he wanted to say something, but was continuously being stopped by Kakashi, as Naruto could see Sasuke's eyes drift back and forth between them. Sakura on the other hand... she never looked back at him one time - at least not that he noticed.

He was tempted to call out to her, to apoligize for knocking her away, but figured it would be best done when they had all settled down and reported in. It came faster than he thought, as apparently he had been knocked out for longer than he believed. They arrived at Konoha within a few hours. Zabuza had immediately been taken into custody and Haku was led to the hospital by one of the Chuunin sentries on watch. Their team, however, went straight to the Hokage's office.

They all stood still as Kakashi explained what happened, up to the final outcome... obviously leaving a lot out. Naruto cringed at points, vaguely remembering what happened, his memory of that time rather hazy. Sasuke kept looking back and forth once again between him and Kakashi, while Sakura visibly trembled at points. The Hokage asked Naruto if it would be alright for him to explain what was going on, and after giving a brief moment's thought to it, slowly nodded his head. The Hokage sent him on his way, saying that the rest of his team could catch up with him later, and to take the week off.

The week passed without anything happening, so he managed to keep himself busy with personal training. To his surprise, Kakashi had shown up on more than one occasion to offer him some pointers before taking off, saying that he was still needed for higher ranked missions but that he'd try to offer tips when he was in the village.

Once the week passed and his team gathered again for missions, he was the first to arrive, hoping to be able to talk to at least one of his teammates about what they thought. Sasuke was there first, as he expected... but other than a nod in his direction, nothing seemed to have changed. He was about to ask until he heard Sakura's voice calling both his and Sasuke's name. She ran up, greeted them both, then promptly pulled a book out of a bag she was carrying and began reading. Upon attempting to apologize about what happened in Wave, she merely smiled at him, said it was alright, then promptly ignored him after that.

Since that time, nothing further had changed. Kakashi made more than one mention about how their teamwork was incredible, but outside of their missions they had absolutely no contact. The teamwork was there, but the trust was not. Much to Naruto's surprise, Sasuke had confirmed that he was jealous about Naruto's secondary power source, that he could have used it to avenge his clan... but otherwise he didn't care. Sakura said she was just mad that Naruto hadn't trusted her or their team and tell them about it, but also confirmed that she'd get over it eventually, as she gradually accepted his reasons why he didn't.

Ever since then, they had slowly been getting back into their old groove, though Sasuke was talking to them both more on a regular basis, and Sakura hadn't nagged Sasuke about dates once. As time went on it was obvious to Naruto that Sakura was showing even a little more respect to him, as she had apparently made a conscious choice to look to him for decisions occasionally, instead of constantly expecting everything from Sasuke.

"Naruto?"

The blond promptly snapped back into focus, realizing that he had unintentionally started daydreaming.

"A-Ah! I'm sorry Tenten, I didn't mean to... I was just thinking about what Gai-sensei said. I guess a lot of people don't know that Sakura-chan dropped out?"

Tenten looked scandalized. "What? Why?"

Naruto offered the girl a sad smile. "She said she wasn't ready for the finals, but she didn't want to hold back me or Sasuke from going further. After she beat Ino, she talked to both Kakashi-sensei and the old man, asking if she could be removed from the last competition to concentrate on other things. She knew her limits."

"Did she say why she didn't think she was ready?"

Naruto shrugged, shaking his head. "I didn't want to pry, and she didn't say anything to me or Sasuke. Kakashi explained to us a little of what she said. When I went to her house, her mom said that Sakura-chan had been reading a lot of medical books, and was taking some courses at the hospital."

"So she wants to be a medic-nin?" Tenten was tapping her chin with her forefinger, obviously thinking about it.

"Sounds like it, but I haven't seen her since the end of the second part of the exams, so I don't know."

"That sucks. Some teammate."

Naruto frowned. "Hey! Sakura-chan is a great teammate!"

Tenten immediately held her hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Whoa! I'm sorry. I just don't think it's right for a teammate to not let you know what's going on, that's all."

Naruto was about to agree with her, but frowned after a moment, shaking his head, "Well, I would deserve it."

"Huh? What did you do?"

"I..." Naruto stopped, wondering if he should tell Tenten about his little secret. Shaking his head once again, he decided against it... he didn't know her well enough yet. Maybe if they became better friends. "Nevermind. It's a really long story, and I probably shouldn't tell someone from another team... at least not yet. I'm sorry."

Tenten frowned briefly, but eventually nodded her head. "I understand. It's okay." Shrugging her shoulders, she pulled the huge scroll off of her back, then set it on the ground in front of her with a dull thud.

"What's that?" Naruto immediately leaned forward, inspecting the huge scroll. He'd always noticed it before, but never thought about asking what it was before now.

"This is my weapons scroll."

"What? You fight with that? It's gotta be heavy."

Tenten let out a quick giggle, then started unwrapping it a bit. "No, silly. I keep my weapons stored in seals written on the scroll. A few of my techniques use it."

Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Doesn't that take a while to seal all those weapons away though?"

"Not really. This scroll is special. I can just set a bunch of weapons on top of it, and it has a unique seal that automatically puts them in the proper spots."

Naruto was staring at the scroll, wide eyed and nodding his head as Tenten pointed out various things about it. All the talk about weapons caused him to look back at the target from earlier, realizing he still had most of his kunai stuck in them.

"Since you use weapons a lot, I bet you're really good at them, aren't you?"

Tenten smiled at him, then held her head up high and struck a pose, as if enjoying the praise. "I've been told more than once that I'm a prodigy with weapons."

"Could you teach me? I've never been that good with them, but I need to get better."

At first glance, the girl looked incredibly enthused about teaching someone else how to use weapons properly. However, that slowly settled into a more thoughtful look.

"I don't know..." Tenten's face scrunched up momentarily. "I would, but don't you face my teammate Neji in the finals? That wouldn't be right."

Naruto tried to give her his best pout, and she looked about to cave, but still held fast. "I really would, but it wouldn't be fair. How about after the exams, though? I wouldn't mind then."

At first he was going to try and beg a little more, but seeing the look of seriousness on her face decided against it. He wouldn't want anyone from his team giving his opponent advantages, so he wouldn't place Tenten under that pressure either. Besides, he wanted to win fairly.

Smiling, he held out a hand. "After the exams."

Returning his smile with one of her own, Tenten grabbed his hand and shook it. "Deal."

* * *

_Four days before the Chuunin Exam Finals..._

"Kyuubi".

There was a noise of something large inhaling before two large eyes opened from behind the cage.

**"Naruto. It has been a while. I was beginning to think you had forgotten all about me."**

Naruto frowned from where he was in front of the cage, then looked down at his feet. "Yeah... listen... I'm sorry I haven't been back sooner. I guess... I guess I was a little afraid."

**"Fear. Typical for a human. At least you're honest."**

Naruto's head shot up quickly. "What do you mean typical? I've never been afraid of you before, and I'm still not! I was just afraid of... well... the power you gave me just felt so right, and I didn't want to hurt my friends."

**"Your so-called precious people, as you've mentioned before. Yes, I know. Without my will behind my power, it will do as you desire. If that desire is to harm..."**

The Kyuubi's voice drifted off after giving Naruto more information about itself than it ever had before. Even this information, though, managed to bring about more questions.

"Your will? You mean you weren't controlling what happened?"

**"No. You were. I merely gave my power to you, to do what you will with it. You wanted to hurt those who had harmed your friends, and you did. You almost lost yourself with the miniscule amount I gave you, however."**

"Why didn't you merge with me to help me control it?"

**"I cannot."**

Naruto opened his mouth to shout another question, before realizing one important thing about what Kyuubi just told him. It couldn't merge with him. As for the why, it was the same reason that it never had before. The Kyuubi was still locked behind that cage, the representation of the seal.

**"Very good."**

"Huh? I didn't say anything... did I?"

**"No, you didn't. I could tell what you were going to ask, however. That you didn't ask it means you answered it on your own. Though your progress is slow... it is acceptable."**

Naruto didn't know if he should take what the Kyuubi said as a compliment or an insult, so he settled for keeping his mouth shut, as that was usually the best thing for him to do when dealing with the bijuu. Sighing, he began to think back to his original purpose for coming here.

"Kyuubi, Ero-sennin wants me to use your power to perform a summoning technique."

There was a pause, then a gust of air washed over Naruto, followed by a brief... laugh? Kyuubi had never laughed before... this was new.

**"So you choose to call him that too. How fitting."**

Shock overcame Naruto's features as he ran up towards the cage, placing his hands on the bars and looking through them eagerly.

"You mean someone else calls him Ero-sennin too? That's awesome! Who is it?"

Kyuubi's eyes closed as Naruto finished shouting, and it let out a 'hmmph' noise.** "It's not important now. But if he needs you to use my chakra, then use it. It's always there. I don't understand why you don't just take it anyway."**

Naruto stepped back from the cage. "I wouldn't take something of yours without asking for it first."

Both of Kyuubi's eyes opened again, the red iris focusing intently on Naruto for a moment before closing halfway. **"Why?"**

Standing his ground, the whiskered blond looked straight up into the Kyuubi's half-lidded eyes. "Because... that wouldn't be right."

The fox closed its eyes, letting out a rumbling noise. **"Use what you need. Now go."**

Frowning a little at the short dismissal, he closed his eyes. The moment the blond disappeared from the room, the Kyuubi let loose with another short chuckle.

**"Naruto... you have no idea what you're getting into, do you?"**

**

* * *

**

_Chuunin Exam Finals - Forest ouside Konoha_

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he witnessed Gaara completely release his inner demon. The creature was huge, easily towering over everything nearby. He knew he had to do something fast, only he was facing a rather large predicament.

He had no chakra left.

While normally performing the Mass Shadow Clone technique wouldn't drain him that badly, he was already running on fumes because of the constant fighting since the exams took place. He probably would have had plenty left if Neji hadn't closed his tenketsu earlier, as the gentle fist technique completely messed up his normally rather impressive chakra regeneration too.

He was out of options, with only one recourse left, and he really didn't want to have to beg Kyuubi for more chakra. There were only two unfortunate spots, first being that he didn't have any other choice, and secondly he'd have to take without asking this time because he didn't feel there would be enough time _to_ ask. That just meant he'd have to make a point to apologize and even thank Kyuubi for letting him use it without asking.

Reaching deep within himself, he immediately felt the well of primal energy which automatically began rejuvenating him the moment he brushed across it. The aggressive nature of the chakra was clear, as soon as he tapped into it he felt like fighting something. Feeling Shukaku's sand start to cover the left side of his body, he immediately performed the summoning technique he fully mastered just four days ago. Naruto's perspective of the battlefield immediately shifted as the Boss Toad Gamabunta was summoned underneath him.

"What? Back again so soon? Eh... is that you, Naruto?"

"Hey boss! Sorry about summoning you again so soon, but as you can see, we have a bit of a problem."

Gamabunta was silent for a moment, and Naruto could feel him shifting underneath his feet as he took in the opponent. "Shukaku? The sand spirit? What's he doing outta his cage?"

"He's like me, boss! His container's name is Gaara! Though unlike me he only likes to kill people to gain recognition!"

"I see. Well... I really don't wanna fight this guy. You see, my leg has been sore for the past couple days-"

"Whaaaat? Boss, come on! If I don't stop this guy, I don't want to know what he'll do to Konoha!"

"Hmmm..."

Gamabunta shifted again, facing Shukaku now. Naruto was actually rather surprised that Shukaku hadn't attacked them already, but he attributed that to the fact that Gaara was likely still in control and having fun watching what Naruto was willing to do to help him 'prove his existence'.

"Please, Boss! I don't want to have to summon Kyuubi!"

"S-Summon Kyuubi? How can you... no, better yet, why would you do a crazy thing like that, boy! No... I'll do this. I don't feel like listening to Jiraiya complaining later!"

Naruto sighed internally knowing that his bluff had actually worked. He couldn't summon Kyuubi, it wasn't possible as far as he knew. Perhaps it would be something worth asking later, though. He didn't get very far on that train of thought, however, as Gamabunta told him to hold on tight and charged right towards the sand spirit.

Having plenty of time to prepare, Gaara used Shukaku to start shooting bullets of air at the boss toad. Naruto held on for dear life as Gamabunta tried evading them, or using water bullets to knock them out of the way. At the same time he was silently hoping that Sasuke and the others were far enough away from this fight, as the amount of forest that was being torn up was massive.

Things only got worse, however, as realizing there was a stalemate Gaara decided to forcefully put himself to sleep, allowing Shukaku to take full control. The demon was obviously insane, as it began destroying everything in sight, and throwing whatever it could at the boss toad. Knowing it was only a matter of time before he would run out of chakra, Gamabunta knew they had to get in close.

"Naruto!"

"Yeah boss?"

"I'm going to get in close so you can wake up that kid and make Shukaku lose control! However I won't be able to hold on like I am now, so you're going to have to transform me into something that can grapple! Got it?"

"Just grapple? What the hell am I supposed to turn you into?"

Unfortunately Gamabunta didn't hear him as there were several large explosions nearby. Quickly launching towards Shukaku, Naruto thought once again of the Kyuubi - the only thing large enough that had sharp teeth and claws which would be able to grapple well. There was a large burst of smoke around them as the transformation took hold, and Naruto could have sworn he saw the eyes of the tanuki go wide as they emerged from the cloud.

In no time at all the shapeshifted Gamabunta got in close with Shukaku, grabbing on tightly. The moment they made contact, Naruto leapt off Gamabunta's head, straight towards the slumbering form of Gaara. Pulling is fist back, the moment he got close enough he launched it forward, straight into the slumbering boy's cheek. Gaara woke immediately just as the wails of Shukaku filled the air around them.

His moment of triumph didn't last long, however, as Gaara immediately focused on Naruto, sending sand in his direction, and holding his feet down with yet more. Gamabunta managed to wrap his tongue around Naruto to keep most of the sand away, but the bit that was clinging to his feet slowly began moving up his legs.

Knowing he'd have to use Kyuubi's chakra again since he still didn't have enough to get out of this, Naruto decided to pay a quick visit this time, not being too fond of taking chakra twice without asking.

Closing his eyes and focusing, he surprised himself when he immediately heard the dripping noise, signifying that he was in the strange place that contained the Kyuubi.

**"Do you really have time to be here?"**

"I came to ask permission to use your chakra again. I'm sorry for taking it before without asking, but it was an emergency."

**"Is it not still an emergency? The Ichibi is not an easy opponent."**

"You... you know-

**"Of course I do, whelp. We come from the same place. Take what you need and go if you want to live."**

"O-Oh. Thanks!" Immediately closing his eyes, Naruto promptly disappeared from within his mind. It wasn't long after that in which Kyuubi felt the tug upon its chakra once again, and gave it freely.

**"It's a few millenia too soon for you to best me, or my container, Ichibi..."**

**

* * *

**

_Two weeks after the failed Sand/Sound Invasion..._

"Sasuke."

The raven-haired youth stopped in his tracks, turning his head to the side slightly. That was all the acknowledgement that was needed for Naruto to pick up his pace and run up to his teammate.

"How's the curse mark?"

Sasuke's head turned sharply to look at the blond, but Naruto kept facing forward, expression impassive. He snorted out a quick, "Why does it matter to you?"

This time Naruto did turn to look at Sasuke with a serious expression. "Because you are my teammate ."

Sasuke stared at Naruto for several moments before facing forward as they walked. He didn't answer immediately, so Naruto just continued walking next to the other teen silently until the boy decided to speak. While waiting, he decided to look around at the surrounding area they were traveling through.

Everyone still seemed to be feeling down after the death of the Sandaime. The village itself was okay for the most part, there was some damage that needed to be repaired in a few areas, mostly near the outer wall, but luckily a lot of the village escaped unscathed. The loss of the Sandaime, however, hurt worse than any destroyed buildings, and he had heard from Jiraiya that they were scrambling to find someone to replace the old man. They had supposedly asked Ero-sennin to do it, but he had turned it down, though he refused to say why.

Focusing on his teammate once again, the silence continued a little bit longer until they reached the old bridge where they used to have team meetings. When they got up to the railing and looking out over the water, Sasuke finally answered the question.

"I have the mark under control."

Naruto 'hmmed' as he leaned up against the railing next to his teammate. "You say that, but then... do you really _want_ to have it under control?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Naruto sighed, knowing that Sasuke would not make this easy for him. He had talked with Kyuubi about this for the longest time, but the bijuu seemed adamant that Sasuke would fall to the darkness no matter what Naruto tried. It was in their blood for too long. Exactly why, though... the chakra construct wouldn't say.

Instead of trying to dance around the issue, Naruto hoped that perhaps Sasuke would appreciate the blunt approach. "You're still jealous of me, aren't you?"

The effect was immediate as Sasuke whirled to face him, a scowl on his face. "What are you talking about, dead last? Why the hell would I still be jealous of you?"

Keeping his own face impassive, Naruto only turned to look out of Sasuke from the corner of his eye. "If it didn't mean so much to you, I don't think you'd be acting the way you are now."

Sasuke calmed down somewhat, but it was easy to see that he was still agitated. That was made clear with his next question.

"When did you suddenly start thinking you were so smart? I don't ever remember you being like this in school, or even when we were first starting as a team."

Naruto sighed, resting his chin on his hand while his elbow was resting on the railing of the bridge. "Honestly, Sasuke, I've kind of always been like this. I used to pretend to be an idiot so people would pay attention to me. Having a demon sealed inside you makes people want to forget you exist. I wasn't always smart, I admit... but I've never been as dumb as people like to think."

Sasuke mellowed out immediately after that, but surprised Naruto by keeping the questions coming, instead of closing in on himself like he usually did.

"Why you, anyway? I still don't understand what made you so special that you had to have a demon sealed inside you."

Naruto was going to answer right away, but paused for a moment, thinking about it. Kyuubi always avoided discussion about what happened, so he was still clueless about the whole thing. The Sandaime gave little bits of information but wasn't much better than the Kyuubi about giving that information before his passing. Kakashi always ignored it, and Jiraiya always changed the subject. It wasn't too hard to figure out people were keeping things from him.

"I wish I knew. According to the old man, I was barely five minutes old when it was sealed inside me... I was just born at the perfect time, apparently. Though, I still don't know if my parents volunteered or what... I have no idea who they were. Would they be proud of me now?"

Sasuke let out his usual 'hnn' instead of replying directly, but had since moved back over to the railing to look out over the water.

"Kyuubi wants to see what kind of path you will take."

Naruto's teammate turned to face him quickly, obviously surprised. "Kyuubi? Why?"

The blond opened and closed his mouth a couple times, apparently not sure how to explain what he knew. "I'm... not sure, honestly. Kyuubi thinks that your clan has the 'damned eyes', but it won't say why. Whenever I've tried to defend you this past week, it's laughed at me, and said you'll always choose the wrong path to power simply because it's in your blood. That got me thinking about your curse mark, and made me worried."

When Sasuke didn't say anything, Naruto continued, "I know you want a lot of power quickly to avenge your clan, like you said. I'll train with you all you want, and I'm sure Sakura-chan would be willing to help when she's not busy with her medic stuff. I could probably try to talk to Ero-sennin too, maybe there's something he can do that Kakashi-sensei hasn't thought of yet."

There were several moments of silence before Sasuke responded. "Why do you care so much? Why can't I gain power the way I want to?"

"Because you're my friend, my teammate, and my rival. I don't want to lose you because you made the easy choice."

"Who are you to know what's easy and what's hard... and why would it matter anyway? Power is power!"

Sasuke's voice was rising once more, and Naruto couldn't help but close his eyes and sigh. Perhaps Kyuubi was right... again... after all. "I don't know, Sasuke. I'm just afraid that some day you'll have to do something like kill me or Sakura-chan to gain more power, and then you'll be lost forever. I want to do everything I can to-"

"That will never happen." Sasuke tried to sound convincing as he cut off what the blond was saying, but Naruto could hear the slight waver in his voice, not to mention how much more pale Sasuke looked after his last comment. He only hoped that Sasuke believed what he said, because he really didn't want to lose his friend. Giving Sasuke a little pat on the shoulder, he said he hoped so, then promptly turned away from the railing and began walking back the way they came.

"Naruto."

Stopping, the blond turned to look over his shoulder at Sasuke, who was still looking out over the river.

"Thank you."

Chuckling to himself, Naruto simply gave a little wave over his shoulder as he walked away.

* * *

_Three Weeks Later - The Hunt for Tsunade_

**"I seem to be saying this a lot lately. Can you really afford to be here right now?"**

Naruto looked up towards the cage from where he was sitting, then turned away as he sighed and shook his head. "That big summon crushed my leg. I'm playing dead at the moment until your chakra fixes it."

Kyuubi didn't respond, though the blond could hear it breathing from behind the cage. He was sorely tempted to ask the Kyuubi for advice about what to do against Kabuto, but after seeking help with the Rasengan training, he didn't know if the Kyuubi was going to start demanding some kind of repayment for all the advice it had been giving him.

**"How long are you going to be in here?"**

Startled, Naruto looked up at the cage once again before his face adopted a pensive expression. "Well, it's noisy out there because of the fighting and the pain in my leg was making it hard to think of a strategy for how to deal with Kabuto. So I came here to think."

**"Hmm."** The Kyuubi's voice rumbled, echoing off the walls. Several moments of silence passed before it spoke up again. **"You haven't asked me about how to deal with this... Kabuto, yet. Why?"**

Naruto scratched at his chin, not looking at the cage this time. "I've asked you for advice so often already. I'm probably getting annoying, aren't I?"

The Kyuubi surprised him by chuckling. Though the voice of the Kyuubi was generally deep and foreboding, the laugh seemed to be an honest one, as if it was genuinely amused. The blond decided to remain silent to see if the bijuu would explain what it felt was amusing. However, the very fact that Kyuubi was laughing was strange enough, he distinctly remembered the chakra construct telling him that it could only emulate human emotions, but did not have them itself.

**"Naruto, if I found you annoying, I would have stopped giving you... advice... long ago. The simple fact is that if you die, I would die as well; I don't want that. Though your death would be admittedly a lot more permanent than mine."**

"You don't want to-" Naruto stopped talking as he climbed to his feet, then started again when he was finally standing, facing the cage, "How can you die, though? Aren't you just made of chakra?"

The Kyuubi chuckled again, though it didn't last nearly as long as the first time. **"That is something we can discuss at a later time. For now, you simply need to immobilize that Kabuto to hit him with a Rasengan. I suggest you hurry, otherwise someone important to you will suffer."**

Naruto's eyes went wide at this before he exclaimed, "Who? Ero-sennin? Even if he was poisoned by that old lady, he said he'd be fine!"

**"No... that woman... Tsunade. Kabuto will kill her if you don't act."**

Naruto closed his eyes as if to leave the cage area, but asked one more question before leaving. "Why did you say she is important to me? It's not like she's done anything other than make a bet with me."

**"Now is not the time. It will become clear later. Go."**

Huffing to himself, Naruto focused on returning to awareness, and gradually felt as the throbbing in his leg became a dull ache. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked around where he lay as the rest of his senses slowly came back to him.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru were still battling a little further away now. Shizune looked to be knocked out not too far away from where he was. Just past her, a smirking Kabuto was saying something to a blood-covered Tsunade, who was trembling uncontrolably.

Grunting, he pushed himself to his feet. Looking at his leg, he saw that it was perfectly mended without a scratch - other than a dull throbbing, it would be impossible to tell that he was injured at all. Snapping his attention back to Kabuto, he felt his anger grow as the older ninja hit Tsunade a few times.

Quickly coming up with a crazy plan to immobilize the Sound spy, Naruto grinned ferally and sped forward, interrupting one of the punches aimed for Tsunade. Grunting at the impact against his forehead protector, his feral grin turned into an icy stare as he looked up towards the older boy.

"W-What are you doing, Naruto-kun? I'll admit, you surprised me... but you're still no match for me."

Not saying anything, Naruto promptly brought his hands up into the familiar cross shaped formation. Kabuto pulled his fist back from Naruto's forehead, and then quickly took a large hop backwards as two clones popped into existence, one on either side of the teenaged blond.

"You can't do everything with shadow clones, you realize."

Ignoring Kabuto, the two clones moved forward in front of Naruto. The one on the left held it's hand out as the other one brought its hands over and started rotating them. Slowly a glowing bluish-white orb began to form in the hand of the clone on the left. Naruto still stood there, staring grimly at Kabuto, who seemed to tense slightly. He also heard a small gasp from behind him, followed by a gentle, shaking tug on the back of his jacket.

"Naruto... what are you doing? He's too fast, you won't be able to hit him with that! Get out of here!"

Looking over his shoulder, he tossed the older woman a small grin before his expression evened out and he turned to look at Kabuto again. As he did that, his clones let out a roar and charged the spy, quickly closing the distance between them.

Unfortunately Tsunade was right, the clones were no match for Kabuto. Expertly dodging the thrust from the clone with the Rasengan, he quickly elbowed it in the side. A swift kick in the gut of the second clone promptly dispelled that one as well. Turning to face Naruto and Tsunade again, Kabuto gave them his mocking smile as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"Come now, Naruto-kun. You should know parlor tricks like those won't affect me in the slightest. Now why don't I do you a favor and allow you to step aside. If you do, I won't kill you this time."

Naruto growled, feeling his anger rise. "Never! Tsunade-baachan is going to be the next Hokage of Konoha! As a ninja of Konoha, it's my duty to protect her! I won't back down, that's my ninja way!"

Naruto heard Tsunade mumble something from behind him, but Kabuto's laughing drowned out whatever it was she was saying.

"Oh... that's rich! A genin thinks he can take me on! You saw what I did to your clones, Naruto-kun! This is your last warning before I take you out to get to the weak woman behind you."

The blond's eyes squinted as he stared Kabuto down. Tsunade began yelling something behind him, but he tuned her out, turning his entire focus on Kabuto. He had to do something to keep the other shinobi from moving away in order to hit him with the Rasengan. Even though the blond had an idea... it was risky.

Naruto simply grinned, causing Kabuto to snarl and pull a kunai out of the holster attached to his thigh. "I thought you were smarter than this, Naruto-kun. You will die for your arrogance."

As Kabuto began to charge him, Naruto slipped down into a taijutsu stance. The tug on the back of his jacket became more forceful now, and Tsunade was literally screaming behind him now.

"Naruto, stop it and run! I don't want you to die!"

Hearing Tsunade yell only strengthened his resolve, and he saw Kabuto smirk as the silver-haired man brought down the kunai, point first.

Bringing his own hand up suddenly, Naruto winced for a moment as the kunai pierced the palm of his hand, and bit back a yelp as specks of his own blood flecked across his face. It seemed like a good plan at first, to goad Kabuto into attacking him, though he hadn't really planned on a kunai factoring into it at first. Gripping Kabuto's hand in his own, the spy looked completely flabbergasted, making Naruto chuckle as he shifted his focus from the pain in his hand to the creation of a single clone.

As the clone started controlling the chakra Naruto was releasing from his free hand, he chuckled and talked to Tsunade, who was still clutching his jacket behind him, "Don't worry about me, Tsunade-baachan. I won't die until I become Hokage. I promise."

Kabuto was pulling backwards with force at first, trying to free his hand from Naruto's impossibly strong grip. The moment the Rasengan was complete in his hand, Naruto quickly thrust it forward into the spy, ignoring the fact that Kabuto's other hand was against his chest now, apparently believing his reach was longer and he could therefore keep the blond back. Not letting it affect him, Naruto simply pushed forward harder.

There was a screeching noise from where the Rasengan hit Kabuto as it was released, and Naruto released his grip on Kabuto's hand, causing the spy to go flying away as the pressure of the chakra mass sent him careening backwards. He couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he saw Kabuto's body lying smashed up against a nearby rock once the dust cleared.

Then two things happened at once. First he couldn't help but stare in shock as Kabuto slowly wrenched himself free from the rock, then took a lurching step forward, the wound on his abdomen still smoking. Secondly, he felt several sharp pangs of pain from his chest, followed by a cough. A normal cough wouldn't have alarmed him, but the metallic taste in his mouth told him it was pretty bad.

He was vaguely aware as Kabuto started saying something, but Naruto was unable to focus as the pain increased tenfold. The adrenaline was wearing off, and the increasing pain in his chest followed by his throbbing hand was making him lose consciousness. Fighting to stay awake, he coughed again, and his legs gave out on him. Naruto's last coherent thoughts were of a scared-looking Tsunade just arriving to look over him.

Closing his eyes, he immediately opened them again, vaugely aware of where he was.

**"Naruto."**

That voice... it sounded familiar. But for some reason he was having a hard time paying attention. The pain in his chest, it was... just too much.

**"Naruto, focus. Use my chakra to heal yourself."**

Use... chakra? Why? To heal? How? Naruto was blinking his eyes rapidly, trying to make sense of what was going on, why he was here, and figure out who was talking to him.

**"Useless human, wake up! It's getting darker in here! I cannot passively fix the damage you took fast enough without your help!""**

So what if it was getting darker? Yes, his chest hurt, but like all of his pains, it would go away eventually, right?

**"You are going to die. So am I. Is that what you want?"**

No, not really, he didn't want to die, nor did he want anyone else to die either. Strangely, the moment he thought that, the pain at his chest started to lessen. The pressure was still there, but it didn't sting anymore. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he let out another cough, then tried to open his eyes again, only to find that he couldn't.

Pausing for a moment, then trying again, he managed to force his left eye open enough to see what was going on. To his surprise, a panicked-looking Tsunade was on her knees next to him, her hands glowing green and pressed against his chest. He smiled a little bit, realizing that whatever she was doing was helping him to breathe a little easier.

A glint in the sunlight showed her necklace that was dangling loosely in front of her. Grinning very slightly, his mind immediately remembered their little bet and her promise to him about giving him that very necklace. He managed to pull off the Rasengan, so by all rights, he won that little bet. Straining, Naruto managed to lift his injured hand just enough to be able to grasp the necklace and tug on it.

Tsunade immediately started, looking down at his hand. Her face quickly adopted an expression of hope as she looked down, then focused her gaze on his face, searching for a sign that he was okay.

He managed to open his eye a little further and grin a little bigger. "The bet... I won..." The look of shock and relief that crossed her face was enough to make him want to laugh out loud, but suddenly he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him.

Closing his eye again, he released his grip on the necklace and let out a sigh, finally feeling a little comfortable. Another sensation of strange warmth washed over him, he opened his eyes again to see what it was.

Blinking as he waved his hand in front of his face, Naruto realized he could now open both eyes and move with no problem. Looking around from where he was lying, things gradually came into focus around him, the first of which was the very large cage. Seeing that, various memories finally started snapping back into place.

**"You're back."**

Startled, Naruto looked up at the cage again, but didn't see anything from behind it. Planting his hands on the ground, he sluggishly started to push himself to his feet.

"K-Kyuubi?"

**"Yes."**

Grunting as he managed to stand up, Naruto sighed deeply as he realized he could barely do so, and promptly leaned forward, his hands resting against his thighs, "I feel so... tired."

**"Lethargic would be the better word to use. That's what happens when you have a close brush with death and the adrenaline wears off."**

"Death?" Naruto couldn't keep the incredulity out of his voice. "Really? I felt like I was... dreaming, but not really."

The Kyuubi grumbled from inside its cage, **"You almost died and didn't respond to me. That ninja was using his technique to damage the blood vessels around your heart, which you likely only interpreted as him trying to keep you away."**

Already feeling tired from standing, Naruto chose to sit back down in the liquid that was all around. Truth be told, he still didn't feel completely aware of what was going on, but at least he had control this time.

"I didn't feel anything strange until after I had already hit him with the Rasengan."

**"He likely could have killed you instantly if he wished. Since he survived your technique, he likely understood that he needed to either protect himself or conserve his chakra to heal himself later."**

Naruto humphed to himself as he rubbed his eyes, "Well, I still got him, and that's all that matters right?"

**"Of course it matters!" **Both of the Kyuubi's eyes opened wide, and it's lips peeled back in fury, exposing its rather imposing mouth full of sharp teeth. Naruto would have recoiled had he not faced this before. Feeling as tired as he was didn't make him feel like reacting either.

**"You almost died for your foolishness! If you die, so do I, and as I explained earlier I have no desire to face death again. You could simply have used my chakra to eviscerate that cocky spy, or even covered him in your shadow clones to pin him down, then hit him with that Rasengan! But making yourself a target? Foolish! Completely foolish! I expect better of you, Naruto!"**

After the spiel was done, both eyes closed and the teeth disappeared. That was the longest Kyuubi had ever spoken continuously, and he had actually started to tremble slightly towards the end. All of the points hit home, of course, except for the fact about using Kyuubi's chakra. It hadn't really even crossed his mind, he had been so hung up on doing everything on his own.

Sighing, Naruto rubbed his face. Saying he was sorry at this point would cause the Kyuubi to do nothing more than scoff at him, even if it did that at this point. An angry Kyuubi was something he didn't want to deal with. While the Kyuubi stated it didn't have emotions, Naruto wasn't sure what made it believe that. He had seen more than a few today.

Anger at him having acted stupidly. Humor when he had first appeared after his leg was crushed. Worry when he was dying, likely both for itself and him. All of these thoughts simply caused more questions, however, and it was very unlikely that Kyuubi would be willing to give him answers after everything that had transpired.

Another wave of fatigue washed over Naruto, and he realized that not only did his body need rest, his mind did too after the trauma of near-death. Closing his eyes and lying back down in the liquid around him, he sighed one last time, promising to himself to find out more about the Kyuubi when it would be willing to talk to him again.

Before completely losing consciousness, Naruto idly wondered if Kyuubi yelling at him was what it was like when a parent scolded a child.

* * *

_Two months later, the Valley of The End..._

"Go."

Sasuke rolled his head over to the side, to stare at Naruto in shock. He tried to speak, but then winced and coughed up some blood. Grunting as he rolled onto his side, the raven haired teen tried to catch his breath as he stared at Naruto with incredulity.

Naruto, meanwhile, sat there calmly at the edge of the water, watching as the gentle waves caused by the waterfall lapped upon the rocky shore. He listened as his teammate shuffled around behind him, likely trying to sit upright. He had taken a beating, even in his second cursed seal form, courtesy of Naruto's Kyuubi-reinforced fists. Sasuke had come charging at him with a Chidori, and Naruto had performed a feint by appearing to clash against it with a Rasengan of his own.

But he had dropped the Rasengan at the last second and concentrated on dodging the Chidori. Sasuke was obviously too focused on clashing with him, if his surprise was any indication, and Naruto had proceeded to pummel his rival relentlessly until he crashed down upon the beach, coughing up blood.

It was then that Sasuke's raspy voice reached him, "W-Wha... what are you saying? Was everything you said before and during the fight... did it mean nothing?"

Just asking that much must have proven to take quite the amount of effort, as Naruto heard another series of hacking coughs. The blond let them settle down before giving his answer.

"Do any of us mean anything to you after all, Sasuke? You said I was your closest friend, but even I have to wonder about that. Do you remember our talk, a few months ago? How do you feel now that you know you've proved the Kyuubi right?"

He heard the hitching of breath to his side, then sighed to himself and continued, "Lots of people are stronger than you, Sasuke. Tsunade-baachan, Ero-sennin, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei... those are just a few who are. As I proved now, I'm stronger than you too."

Naruto turned to glare at Sasuke, and was mildly surprised to see his teammate flinch. "There are plenty of people who would be willing to help you get stronger, but you're not going to get stronger overnight. Even I haven't, and unlike you, I have barely had anyone help me get where I am today. Everything I have is through a lot of dedication and hard work. I can only use a tiny fraction of Kyuubi's power, otherwise it will overwhelm me. So I'm not strong enough either."

Sasuke had managed to push himself up to his knees as rain started falling around them. He was either clutching his stomach or holding one of his arms close, but Naruto couldn't really tell. While the other teen still hadn't said anything further, Naruto could easily hear the ragged breathing coming from where Sasuke was kneeling.

Naruto chuckled a bit, and noticed that Sasuke gave him a sharp, questioning look. Shaking his head and smiling, Naruto decided to explain what was funny, "You know, I think Sakura-chan understood you before even I did, just now. When we were being organized to chase after you, she wished me luck, but said that she talked to you before you left."

"Do you know why she didn't try to stop you? Because she told me the exact same thing Kyuubi did, just a little differently. She didn't exactly give up on you, but she doesn't think you want to be helped either. At least, not by anyone in Konoha."

"That's not true! Do you know how many times I asked Kaka-" Sasuke's outburst was interrupted by yet another series of hacking coughs, causing him to pitch forward and spray blood across the rocks in front of him. Naruto frowned, but otherwise didn't move from where he was sitting.

"You never _asked_, Sasuke. You _demanded_, and then got angry when people wouldn't teach you what you felt you needed to know. It's like Kyuubi told me a long time ago, you need to learn what you're given first before you can move on to other things. Knowledge and power comes in steps, through experience. You may have had a bit more power than me in our fight just now, but I was smarter."

"So now you have a choice. You can leave and see what it's like learning from a bastard like Orochimaru, or you can come back with me and learn the right way."

They sat in silence for several long moments before Saskue finally pushed himself to his feet. He stood there rather unsteadily for several moments, looking at the ground. Naruto noticed his fists clench and release quickly before Sasuke finally looked towards where he was sitting.

"I'm going."

Naruto closed his eyes and frowned, hearing subtle chuckling coming from the back of his mind. Once again, Kyuubi was right. How it always seemed to know these things was beyond his understanding.

"Fine," Naruto ground out through clenched teeth. Grabbing Sasuke's forehead protector from the shore near where he was sitting, he tossed it at his old teammate, who bumbled with it for a moment before staring at it impassively.

"I don't need this anymore."

"You're taking it. Don't make me come over there and cram it down your throat."

Sasuke scowled at Naruto, before quickly rolling his eyes and tucking it into his rather torn-up kunai pouch. "I don't see the point."

"You're keeping that, this way every time you see it you can remember I'm out there, ready and waiting to kick your ass again and again, just so I can prove you made the wrong choice."

Naruto's voice had raised a bit as he pointed at Sasuke, who simply stared at him with mild surprise. Much to Naruto's own shock, Sasuke simply smirked at him before turning away and stumbling towards a cave near the waterfall.

Naruto sat and stared at Sasuke's back the entire time. When the other teen finally reached the entrance of the cave, he stopped and looked back briefly. Naruto chuckled when Sasuke actually gave him a very brief wave before disappearing into the darkness of the cave.

Sighing and closing his eyes, he was fully expecting to go into his mindscape and listen to Kyuubi gloat, only for them to flash open again as his body went rigid when he heard another voice speak up.

"Well, that was an interesting speech."

Quickly turning his head to the side, he looked at his Jounin sensei, who was looking down at him with both hands on his hips. "K-Kakashi-sensei! How long have you been here?" He idly noticed one of Kakashi's nin-dogs, Pakkun, was sitting down next to him.

"Since your little fight ended. Tsunade-sama isn't going to be happy, you know?"

Naruto sighed, closing his eyes once again. "The entire time we were chasing after Sasuke, I kept thinking about what Sakura-chan said, and realized that she was right. Sasuke wasn't happy in Konoha, and after beating him I knew he still wouldn't be happy when I brought him back. Knowing how much Orochimaru wanted Sasuke because of our little fight during the Chuunin Exams, I have a feeling he'll give Sasuke whatever he wants - just so he can make him stronger before he tries to take him over."

Kakashi was surprisingly quiet, listening to Naruto but not offering any words of his own in agreement or to the contrary. Taking this as a good sign, Naruto continued, "I beat Sasuke this time, and I'm going to do just like I said, beat him again and again to prove that he made the wrong choice. If I'm lucky... maybe he'll eventually agree that he made the wrong choice and come home. If not... I'll be able to bring him home before Orochimaru tries anything."

Naruto turned to look at Kakashi, who simply shrugged and moved over closer to Naruto, crouching down next to him.

"I guess we'll find out. I just hope you don't come to regret this. Can you move?"

The blond planted his hands on the ground and shifted his weight forward, only for his arms to give out as he used them to gain leverage. With a grunt, he crashed down sideways into the rough shoreline.

Kakashi chuckled slightly as Naruto grumbled, "I guess I can't. Using the Kyuubi's chakra takes a lot out of me."

"So it seems." With help from Kakashi, Naruto managed to get situated comfortably on his sensei's back. Kakashi dismissed Pakkun, and the two of them carefully proceeded up to the top of the cliff, and then into the forest.

"So, Naruto, what should we tell Tsunade-sama?"

Naruto barely thought about it for a second, "The truth."

"Are you sure? She might view it as treason." The blond tried to figure out what Kakashi was thinking, but he grinned a little as something clicked in his mind.

"Yes, she might. But if she does, you'll be in trouble too. I don't think she'll punish you too badly since you're one of the best Jounin she has, and if she punishes me any differently it will cause a double standard."

Kakashi's head shifted slightly as he trained his uncovered eye on the side of his subordinates' face. "Why do you think I'll get in trouble? I simply arrived at the end."

"Yes, but you were there long enough to hear my entire speech to Sasuke. I think if you didn't agree with me, you would have stopped Sasuke yourself. Right, Kakashi-sensei?"

His sensei's head faced forward again, and even though the chuckles were faint, he could certainly feel the vibrations caused by the laughter against his chest. "So what about the rest of your team?"

Naruto blinked in confusion, "Yeah? What about them?"

"They won't be happy to hear that you let Sasuke go in the end, especially after beating him."

The blond thought about it for a moment. He could tell them the truth, and as a result it would likely cause any injuries they sustained to be for nothing. Morale would drop, and many of them would probably hate him. On the other hand, if he lied and said Sasuke got away, he could still salvage his friendships... at least until Sasuke showed up again.

"I'll... stretch the truth."

"Oh?"

"I did beat Sasuke, but I wasn't in any condition to do anything after beating him because I was too exhausted. I did manage to give him that one last speech, though, which I'll tell everyone. I don't think he would have listened to me if I didn't beat him, so it wasn't a total loss. If anything, I'd say the outcome was just... postponed."

Kakashi was chuckling again. "My my, Naruto. How very clever of you."

"Well... I am a ninja."

"Indeed." Naruto felt as Kakashi shifted slightly, getting a better grip on his legs. "You should try to get some rest if you can. There will probably be quite a few questions when we get back."

Nodding, Naruto rested his chin on his sensei's padded shoulder, trying to relax and get a quick nap in. It would probably be a lot easier if the Kyuubi would stop that incessant chuckling in the back of his mind.

* * *

_Ten days later, the road leaving Konoha..._

"So... are you and that pink haired girl like this?" Jiraiya was sticking his tounge out at Naruto, a perverted look on his face as his middle finger wrapped around his index finger. Naruto blushed slightly before frowning and looking away.

"No, we're not. We're teammates. That's all."

"Are you sure? She seemed pretty sad to see you go."

The blond gave the sage an exasperated look. "I just said why - we're teammates. I was sad to leave too."

Chuckling, Jiraiya straightened up and grabbed the two straps of his backpack with each hand, "Yeah, but the way she was clinging to you before you left was leading me to believe otherwise."

Naruto frowned at this, thinking back. She had seemed a little more clingy than he had ever remembered, and even hugged him twice, which was very rare. He just chalked it up to the fact that he'd be gone for a while, and he was her only other teammate. But her sadness seemed to be tempered by the fact that she told him Tsunade had agreed to take her as an apprentice.

So, in a strange twist, now each member of his team was being apprenticed by one of the Densetsu no Sannin.

"I didn't look into it too much. Besides, it's not like I'm completely disappearing. We can still send messages, right?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Sure, but I don't want to do it too often. We're trying to keep a low profile, and the more messages we send out the greater the chances are of us being noticed. I also only like to use the toads for emergencies, before you ask."

Nodding his understanding, the teen fell into step beside his new sensei. Kakashi had not seemed the least bit upset about not having any students anymore, but he didn't seem happy about it either. Upon inquiry, the cycloptic Jounin said that he wasn't losing him or Sakura permanently, and that he'd likely be running missions with both of them upon Naruto's return.

Thinking about Kakashi also got him thinking about another who had taught him quite a bit. Since they were now out of Konoha, he figured it would be a good time as any to ask a question that had been eating away at him for a while now.

"Hey, Ero-Sennin?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it possible to get Kyuubi out of the seal?"

Two things happened simultaneously. He had to hold back a grin as Jiraiya promptly stumbled and nearly fell to the ground before catching himself. The other thing was a slight burning sensation behind his ears due to the Kyuubi's chakra. He had come to notice eventually that while the Kyuubi could not influence him, it could utilize the small amount of it's chakra that was constantly in his system and sort of... focus it. While he had never asked about it, it would seem that the Kyuubi could perhaps experience what Naruto was to a lesser amount through its chakra.

It helped him a littke bit too - he could hear more clearly, see better, his taste would be a bit stronger, but other than that he ignored it because the sensation was often brief. He hadn't asked the Kyuubi if moving it from behind the seal could be done... it was entirely possible that the Kyuubi itself didn't know but was quite obviously interested in any potential answer.

Naruto was swiftly brought out of his musings when a hand whacked across the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Brat! Don't joke about something like that!"

Naruto stared at Jiraiya, who was giving him an exasperated look, "I'm not joking."

Jiraiya's expression morphed into one of carefully guarded neutrality as he apparently waited to see if Naruto was trying to lead him on or not. When no sign made itself visible, Jiraiya sighed and looked down at the ground, then turned to continue walking, waving for Naruto to follow.

As the blond fell into step beside the much taller man, he asked a question instead of answering. "First of all, what possible reason could you have for wanting to have Kyuubi outside of the seal? It would destroy everything in sight!"

Naruto frowned, "That's not true."

"How can you say that? It attacked Konoha before, what's to say it won't again?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. Kyuubi still refused to talk about why it had attacked Konoha, but it had hinted that it didn't attack the village just because it felt like it.

"I can't really say... other than I believe it wouldn't." For some reason, the mild burning sensation intensified behind his ears. It wasn't painful, but now it was definitely noticeable.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto intently out of the corner of his eyes, "You do know how powerful the Kyuubi actually is, right?"

"It could probably crush me in an instant if it really wanted to. Considering how little power it has given me before and I've been able to do some crazy things with only that much..."

Naruto's voice trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid. Jiraiya had turned his head to look at the young boy fully now, sizing him up once again.

"You never answered my very first question."

Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. "I didn't?"

"What reason do you have for wanting Kyuubi outside the seal?"

"Well..." Naruto paused for a second, unsure exactly as to how he could phrase this. "I've been in my mind, to where Kyuubi is. It seems kind of cramped in that cage. I just thought it would be, well, nice for it to be able to come out for a little while."

Jiraiya looked completely incredulous, "That's it? You've got to be kidding me!"

Naruto scowled at his sensei. He knew it was better to get this question out of the way, but having not experienced the 'attack' himself, he had no idea what the problem was other than by second hand accounts.

"Ero-sennin, to begin with, if it wasn't for Kyuubi I'd have been dead several times now, one of which was no thanks to you. Or did you forget about throwing me off that cliff?"

"H-Hey! I only did that because I kne-"

"Because you knew I had the Kyuubi's chakra, right? So even you put my life in Kyuubi's hands."

Jiraiya grumbled and looked away, but didn't argue the point.

Naruto smirked a little as he continued, "Besides, I don't think Kyuubi is nearly as bad as people say. I don't know why it attacked Konoha the day I was born, and it won't tell me either. But I've known and talked to Kyuubi for seven years now, and it's helped me more than any other sensei I've ever had. So I have a different perspective than everyone else does."

"Besides, woudn't it be cool to have Kyuubi as a summon? Could you imagine, if I had to go fight missing nin, only to summon the Kyuubi so it could smoosh them?"

Naruto was grinning, and he definitely heard Jiraiya let out a few guffaws. After they settled down, the white haired sennin looked at his charge with a small smile. "While I can't guarantee anything will work, I'll see what I can do with the seal, maybe something can work. Since you seem to trust Kyuubi, I'll trust you. Okay?"

"Yes! Thanks! Let me go tell Kyuubi. It says it doesn't have emotions, but I wonder if I can surprise it."

Naruto noticed Jiraiya's face adopt a puzzled look, but before the man could inquire, Naruto promptly closed his eyes. Focusing and then opening them, he immediately appeared in front of Kyuubi's cage. To his surprise, both eyes were open and looking down at him.

"Hey, Kyuubi! Guess what? I talked to Ero-Sennin, and he-"

**"I already know."**

"Ahh... so you were listening in. Lame."

**"Why?"**

Naruto looked around the room pointedly, "Do you like being stuck in here?"

Kyuubi snorted,** "It is not a matter of liking or disliking. I do know what pride is, and being locked ****in**** here is insulting."**

"Well, I'm trying to find a way to help you out of here, at least for a little while at a time."

Kyuubi rumbled a moment behind the bars. **"I fail to understand why."**

"Just... think of it as a thank you for helping me out these past years, and for letting me use your chakra. Even if you were just doing it to keep yourself alive. It kept me alive too."

There was several moments of silence as Naruto waited to see if the Kyuubi would reply. Since it didn't look like it would, he closed his eyes in preparation to leave.

**"Naruto."**

His eyes immediately snapped back open, "Yeah?"

**"Just to clarify something you said earlier... I do not... 'smoosh' things, as you so eloquently put it."**

"Huh?" The confusion was clear in Naruto's voice.

**"I don't simply 'smoosh' them. I completely obliterate them. There is a difference."**

The blond was completely silent as he registered this latest comment. He rolled it around in his mind a few times before concentrating to become aware of his surroundings, to see Jiraiya staring at him curiously. Needless to say, the man wasn't expecting Naruto to suddenly bust out laughing, and took a quick step backwards.

"Naruto, I am seriously beginning to doubt your sanity."

* * *

A/N: I didn't write about every conceivable change, because there would be too many small ones not really worth mentioning. Such as Sasuke and Sakura's obvious behavioral changes. I think I made it obvious enough that Naruto's treatment of Sakura last chapter made her do some self-reflection, and she finally started looking at Sasuke without the rose-colored goggles by the end of this chapter.

Kyuubi might say/do some things that appear to be conflicting, and that is intentional, hence why Naruto thinks about it himself.

As always, big thanks to my beta Denim88 for cleaning up this chapter. Other than that... not much to say. Got some new news on my profile page. That's about it. Until later!


	6. Fourteen

**Fourteen**

_Forested area somewhere in River Country, six months on the road..._

"Bah! I want ramen! I'm tired of rabbit every day!"

Jiraiya scoffed at his apprentice, "You really need to stop complaining and get used to this. What do you think is going to happen when you have to go on a long term mission and live off the land?"

Naruto sighed as he watched the fire pit slowly cook the rabbit that Jiraiya had placed over it on a cooking spit. The sage would occasionally flip the rabbit over, it never took very long for the small animals to cook well enough.

"I know. I just get bored of eating the same thing over and over. Can't we at least pick up some spices?"

Jiraiya pondered it for a moment before slowly nodding. "Our next destination may have some trade stalls. We can see what they have there, if anything. I don't want to spend too much."

Naruto looked at his sensei curiously, "Spend too much? Last time I looked at your bank book, there were quite a lot of zeros."

The white haired man looked positively scandalized. "You were looking through my bank book? That's private!"

Naruto, however, simply scoffed and tapped the pouch fastened on his new belt. "Like you aren't constantly asking me how much money I have. I've been living alone for most of my life, I know how to manage my money."

That particular comment brought a shade of emotion to Jiraiya's face, whether it was shame or sadness Naruto couldn't really tell since it was quashed nearly as fast as it had appeared. Regardless of whichever it was, Jiraiya carefully removed the rabbit from over the fire, and started preparing it, though he didn't change the subject.

"I didn't mean to insinuate anything. I was just making sure you were doing things properly. As for my bank book... all ninja are taught to only use what they really need. I've lived through two ninja wars, and I know the importance of keeping money only for when you really need it."

"But then if you die, it all goes to waste."

Jiraiya shrugged. "Not really. Any money you have to your name will automatically go to any primary family relatives. If there are none, then it gets split between apprentices and students you had. If there are no apprentices or students, then it all goes to the village – usually to handle things like repairs or to pay for orphanages, especially during war time."

Naruto nodded, watching as Jiraiya handed him some of the rabbit. "Oh, yeah..."

"So you paid at least some attention in school then? Most of the reports I read about you said otherwise."

"Kyuubi."

"Ah, I see."

The two of them sat in silence for a little while as they ate their food. The sound of rushing water from a nearby waterfall permeated the area with a steady blanket of noise that Naruto found rather comforting. It didn't take long for Jiraiya to finish, and Naruto watched as the man started rummaging around in one of his bags.

"I'm going to go take a quick bath before we settle down for the evening, but I want you to start reading up on sealing." Jiraiya grunted as he climbed back to his feet, a large towel in one hand and a thin book in the other. Looking at it briefly, he then tossed it to Naruto as he walked past the blond.

"Fuuinjutsu?"

"Yep. Read that book, it will get you started."

"Why do I need this?"

Jiraiya stopped walking for a second, then turned his head to the side slightly, though not enough to look over his shoulder. "Aren't you the one who wants to find a way for the Kyuubi to get out? I won't help anyone who doesn't know anything about the sealing arts."

Naruto's eyes went wide as he looked at the small book in his hands. It looked well used, as if it had been thumbed through many times before. Even though they had been on the roads for half a year now, Naruto's constant whining about doing something for Kyuubi seemed to be falling on deaf ears. He finally gave up a while ago, determined to find out something on his own later. He had no idea if this book was a recent acquisition or if Jiraiya had it all along.

Opening the book, the first few pages had scribbles of all sorts on them, most likely notes that he didn't understand yet. The first chapter of the little book explained the basics behind fuuinjutsu, and quickly got into the creation of simple items, like exploding tags. Naruto was immediately hooked, if only he had known about this before he could have saved a lot of money on supplies.

He got further into the book than he thought he would, since it felt like no time at all had passed and Jiraiya returned to the camp, still wringing his hair dry. He chuckled with amusement as he walked by the blond teen.

"That far already, huh? I guess you're interested?"

Naruto nodded quickly, snapping the book shut and going to grab his own towel. "You bet I am. I can save a lot of money on supplies. How come you didn't show me this before... and why don't they teach stuff like this in school?"

Jiraiya sighed, giving Naruto pause. Holding his towel in his hand, he looked to his teacher, to find the man looking at the little book on the ground, apparently deep in thought. After a few seconds he shook his head and looked back to where Naruto was patiently waiting for an answer.

"They don't teach fuuinjutsu in the Academy because... there is too much you can do with it. That is the simple answer, anyway. It's also incredibly risky, because if you don't apply chakra in precise amounts bad things can happen. It's usually left up to individual sensei to see if a student has the aptitude for it, because you can do nearly anything you can imagine with fuuinjutsu – assuming you have the chakra to spare." Jiraiya tossed Naruto a cheeky smile, "Luckily, you've got tons of chakra, so you can afford to experiment a bit. Now go wash down and when you come back, I'll start going over the basics."

Not needing to be told twice, Naruto promptly gripped his towel in his hand and darted towards where the waterfall sounds were coming from.

* * *

_Five weeks later, eastern Fire Country..._

Naruto followed Jiraiya as the older man landed in a small clearing, settling down next to him as he looked about curiously. Jiraiya had made a comment when they first started out about wanting to hit the eastern shore of Fire Country to catch a boat to Water Country before sundown. It was rapidly approaching evening, however, and Naruto knew they weren't moving as fast as they could have been. But he kept his mouth shut, knowing Jiraiya often changed plans on a whim... it was something he learned very early on in their travels.

"Ero-sennin, why are we stopping?"

Jiraiya looked up towards the tree canopy, likely attempting to judge the position of the sun via the light filtering through the leaves. After looking around for several seconds, he turned to face Naruto and offered a small smile. "Change of plans. We'd never make it to the shore by nightfall anyway. Send some clones out to collect firewood and see if any of them can nab something to eat too."

After giving Jiraiya a funny look, Naruto shrugged and created four Shadow Clones, which immediately took off into the nearby forest. After they disappeared from sight, Naruto removed his backpack and set it down at his feet, fiddling with it to remove his bedroll.

"Are you sure you want a fire, Ero-sennin? I thought we were trying to keep a low profile."

"Not today. I'm actually hoping someone finds us."

Turning to look at his sensei sharply, Naruto narrowed his eyes and studied Jiraiya. The man looked back at him impassively, so Naruto couldn't help but be confused. Granted, they were in friendly territory, but Jiraiya spent the last two months drilling shinobi protocol into his brain, and giving away positional information because of campfires was definitely a _bad_ thing.

"Why? After all this time of telling me campfires are bad unless you're in a full team, why make one now?"

Chuckling, Jiraiya leaned back against a tree and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked towards his charge. "Because this fire is a signal for one of my contacts, and this particular one is constantly on the move. The smoke from the fire will help them to pinpoint our location... I only was able to give them a vague idea."

Naruto snorted to himself as he spread out his bedroll. Leave it to Jiraiya to break his own rules whenever it was convenient. "Must be an important contact."

"Very. It's also risky for me to meet them, for multiple reasons. You should be glad I'm willing to do this for you."

Surprised, Naruto turned to look at his master once again. Jiraiya had since settled down at the base of the tree, fiddling with his own backpack.

"For me? What?"

Jiraiya looked up from his backpack towards his student, an unreadable expression on his face. "You are serious about the Kyuubi, aren't you?"

"Of course." Naruto's reply was immediate, he didn't even need to think about it. Hell, he'd been thinking about it for over a year, so backing down now was out of the question.

"Good. Once the fire is going, we sit and wait. Hopefully we'll only have to be here for one night. I don't think he has a large window of time to meet us anyway."

Naruto sighed as he finished setting up his bedroll, then reached around in his backpack until he located the newest book on sealing they acquired for him just the other day. He'd spent most of last week putting together his own explosive tags, and was happy to report to Jiraiya that he'd made all of them without a single problem.

They went to test them just the other day, and he was pleased that they all worked as well. The explosion area was quite large, so they didn't stay in the vicinity for long in case anyone decided to come looking. Jiraiya seemed to be both proud and a little wary about just how much chakra the teenager had pumped into tags, while Naruto was just glad they weren't duds.

He barely made it through the first page he was looking at when there was a rustling to his right. He looked up and to his right just in time to see two of his clones come back through the foliage with their arms full of kindling and dry leaves.

Naruto observed as they used his knowledge to quickly build a small dirt barrier for the fire pit, then set down plenty of dried leaves and some of the wood they had gathered. Using an Academy level technique to send some sparks onto the leaves, they almost immediately began smoldering. It wasn't long until a full fire was going in the pit, and they still had plenty of wood left over. Seeing that their task was complete, the two clones smirked at their 'boss' and quickly dispelled.

Jiraiya grunted as he climbed to his feet, and Naruto watched as his sensei moved closer to the fire and sat down nearby. Realizing that he should probably do the same as they would be running out of sunlight soon, he was about to hop up to his feet when a third clone entered the clearing.

He noticed its expression frown a bit before it swiftly moved over to the little pile of wood and promptly dumped its own load, then immediately dispelled. Naruto easily caught the look that Jiraiya sent him.

"Did your clone just get upset?"

"Yeah, looks like it." Naruto chuckled as he climbed to his feet, "They have all of my most recent memories and get my emotions too... they're just copies of me. So it was probably telling itself that it would be the first one back and start the fire, but it wasn't... so it got upset. I would have too."

Jiraiya let out a snort, "Of all things to pout over..."

"It's what keeps me going. This isn't the first time my clones have competed with each other, or with me. You've seen us spar."

"Yeah, they can get pretty ferocious. I'm surprised they're as skilled as they are... most of mine are only about half as good as me."

"I think it's because of how much chakra I put into them. The more clones I make, the worse they are, and the shorter they last. If I just make one clone with a lot of chakra, it's almost exactly like I am in every way."

Jiraiya slowly rubbed his chin as he thought about it. It made sense, and Naruto had enough chakra to go places with techniques that most others could only dream of. "Have you figured out the other secret to the Shadow Clones yet?"

Naruto shot his sensei a baffled look. "Other... secret? What are you talking about?"

Jiraiya chuckled to himself, shaking his head. "Well, I'm not surprised. It took Sarutobi-sensei telling me about the secondary function as well before I realized it. You're mature enough now to handle it, I think. Go ahead and dispel your fourth clone and I'll explain. We have enough firewood for tonight, and we can just munch on rations."

Nodding, the blond closed his eyes and focused on the small chakra link that connected him to his last clone. Finding it, he issued the mental command for it to dispel, which it did.

"Well?"

Opening his eyes, Naruto looked back to Jiraiya. "Well... what?"

"Do you have memories of things that you know you didn't do?"

Closing his eyes and thinking back, Naruto's face lit up in surprise as he realized he did have memories of leaving their clearing... in four different directions! The memories of going out and collecting wood, returning to the camp, prepping the fire, and one point of view even feeling upset at being late. There was, however, one memory that simply blacked out after picking up a branch, and he didn't remember seeing or feeling anything particular from that memory. It was unusual. Still...

Naruto brought his hands up to his head and groaned, "I can't believe I didn't notice this before now. Am I an idiot?"

That comment caused Jiraiya to laugh heartily for several moments, making Naruto scowl at the older man. After settling down, Jiraiya lifted an arm and gave Naruto a hefty pat on the shoulder, still smiling, "I wouldn't worry about it too much. The exact same thing happened to me, I think I even said it the same way you did."

Naruto scoffed, "Did the old man laugh at you too?"

Jiraiya sobered up immediately, which Naruto easily noticed. His sensei shook his head as he smiled ruefully into the fire. "No, he simply gave me a small smile and a little laugh, then pat me on the back and said the exact same thing happened to him, and Tobirama-sama chuckled at him as well. So you're just the latest in a long line of many."

Naruto felt his heart lighten for a moment, proud to be included amongst a group of that caliber, before speaking up about his fourth clone. "Ero-sennin, the memories of my last clone go blank in the middle of gathering wood. Do you know what could have happened?"

"I happened, Naruto-kun."

Both Naruto and Jiraiya looked up across the fire at another figure that moved into their camp scene. At first Naruto couldn't tell who it was, as they were dressed all in black and wearing a plain black cloak that covered their features. As they approached and pulled the hood back, Naruto gasped and found himself scooting backwards across the clearing, his expression mixed between panic, anger, and shock.

"You!"

The shinobi standing across the fire simply gave Naruto a small nod, the corner of his lip twitching upwards slightly being the only indication of any amusement. His gaze did not linger on Naruto for very long, however, as it promptly switched over to his sensei.

"You know how risky this is for me to be here, Jiraiya-sama. For more than one reason, I might add."

Jiraiya nodded, slowly rising to his feet. "Sorry, I know. But since you were due to report in anyway, I figured I might as well pick your brain about another matter as well."

"Understood. I'd appreciate it if you made it fast, I only have a week, so that leaves me three days to return to Bird Country."

Jiraiya whistled, "That's going to be quite the trek for three days."

The man was going to say something, but Naruto's shrill shout cut him off.

"Itachi! What are you doing here? What the hell is going on Ero-Sennin?" The other two shinobi turned to look at the blond, who had scooted backwards until his back pressed up against a nearby tree. The teen was pointing a finger at Itachi, who now seemed to be looking at Naruto with amusement.

"Should I tell him, Jiraiya-sama?"

Jiraiya frowned, then grunted as he waved a hand. "No, I don't think he'd believe it coming from you. Naruto, Itachi works for me."

The sage watched as the cogs turned in Naruto's head, the jinchuuriki's face morphing through several expressions rapidly, as if he couldn't decide what he wanted to feel about this situation. His mouth opened and closed several times before he finally figured out what he wanted to say. "T-Then why did he try to capture me before, with that big guy who looks like a shark?"

"He's in that organization to keep an eye on it, and report anything major to me. He needed to come after you to keep up appearances. Though I am curious," Jiraiya turned back to Itachi, "What would have happened if you managed to capture him?"

Itachi shook his head, "I could sense Sasuke nearby and knew he would... _distract_ me long enough for you to show up." The emphasis Itachi placed on the word distract was not lost on the other two shinobi. Jiraiya chuckled slightly, while Naruto appeared to settle down a little, though he was still wary. He knew he still stood no chance against someone like Itachi.

"So what do you need me to do, Jiraiya-sama?"

Jiraiya immediately began rattling off some obscure bits of information that Naruto had a hard time following. He knew that at least some of it was related to the sealing arts, but there were a bunch of things he still didn't understand. Apparently Itachi was confused about some parts as well, since he was asking for clarification on a few things. Unfortunately for the blond, he still didn't understand when Jiraiya clarified.

Just as he was getting bored listening to them chatting about things he didn't understand, Jiraiya turned to look at him. "Naruto. Go into your mindscape for a moment."

"Why?"

Jiraiya scowled lightly. "Just do it. You'll see why soon enough."

Naruto frowned at the order, but let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. Opening them a few seconds later, he found himself in front of the cage that housed the Kyuubi once again. Strangely enough, after all this time he had started considering this place as something like a second home, even if it was supposedly in his own mind.

"Hey, Kyuubi."

There was a low rumble and a few other noises as the Kyuubi likely shifted behind the cage, but otherwise it said nothing. Which, Naruto mused, was nothing unusual.

"I guess you know what's going on out there?"

"**Yes."**

Naruto started pacing back and forth in front of the cage.

"Just you wait! It will be awesome, ya know?"

"What will be awesome, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto promptly pivoted on his feet, staring in shock at the intruder in his mind. "How did you get in here?"

Itachi's head turned so that Naruto could see his face clearly, and the red glow of the sharingan answered that question with no words needing to be spoken.

"**So... you're the clan killer."**

Naruto turned to look at the Kyuubi through the cage, it had both eyes open and appeared to be staring rather intently at the Uchiha through the bars.

"Yes. I won't be here long. Jiraiya-sama simply asked me to inspect some of the more intricate details of the seal, which is more easily done from the source."

There were a few moments of silence as Itachi moved his head back and forth, obviously inspecting the cage and likely seeing things that Naruto could only imagine. He was biting his tongue, keeping himself from asking more questions, only to be startled when the Kyuubi actually began talking once again.

"**Since you are doing nothing more than you said you would, I believe that not everything was as it seemed when you killed your clan, correct?"**

Naruto easily noticed Itachi go rigid, but it was promptly corrected. The older Uchiha did not answer the Kyuubi's inquiry, however, causing the bijuu to chuckle slightly.

"**Your silence is answer enough. Interesting."**

"W-Wait, what's interesting? What are you saying?"

Itachi shook his head as he turned to face Naruto, his back now directed towards the cage. His eyes appeared to be glowing brighter than they were when he had first arrived. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, Naruto-kun. When the time comes, you will learn everything you need to know."

"Argh!" Naruto stomped a foot onto the ground in his mind, kicking up a small amount of the watery substance with a little splash. "Why does everyone always say that? It's getting so annoying!"

Itachi offered a hint of a smile. "That's life, Naruto-kun. Now..." Itachi's eyes faded back to their black color, and the young man let out a sigh, "You will forget the entirety of this encounter. I could put you in a genjutsu to make you forget this meeting, but I have a feeling the Kyuubi would not let that come to pass."

A low rumbling noise from behind the cage was all the answer Itachi needed. The Uchiha closed his eyes and grinned ever so slightly, letting his head dip forward a bit as he shook his head. When he opened them again, he focused on Naruto with a serious expression.

"Get stronger, Naruto-kun. The people working from the shadows are stronger than you could imagine, and you're too young to rely on Kyuubi to bail you out. Next time we meet, we will unfortunately be on opposing sides once more. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

That said, Itachi's form shimmered then disappeared from his mindscape without so much as a noise. Naruto simply sighed and scratched the back of his head, then looked up towards the cage, and the total blackness behind it.

"I'm confused."

There was another small rumble from behind the bars. **"I find myself not being... surprised."**

**

* * *

**

_Four days later, southern island of Water Country..._

Jiraiya grunted as the pressure of Kyuubi's chakra nearly overwhelmed him. The plan was that they tweak the seal containing Kyuubi so that Naruto could both experiment with his own seals, as well as help him to better understand and control the bijuu's incredible power.

Unfortunately, plans can go awry, as the current one seemed to be showing him. This was unlike anything he had seen before; previously Naruto had always been visible through the red chakra cloak that surrounded him. This time, however, the red chakra had literally burned away Naruto's skin before Jiraiya had lost sight of the teen. After a moment of waiting, the amount of chakra pressure permeating the area had crushed down upon him tenfold.

Struggling to remain on his feet, the Toad Sage adjusted himself into a more battle-ready stance. Whenever Naruto decided to appear, he had a feeling that he would be in for the fight of his life. Luckily he had prepared a few paper seals that should push back the chakra, he had pumped enough of his own chakra in the seal he was going to use to completely exhaust even himself for several days.

His eyes went wide as a deep roar shook many of the rocks near them. He had moved Naruto here before they started this in hopes that it would keep them away from any populated areas in Water Country. As far as he knew no one lived in the small secluded wasteland where they were camped. That didn't mean that no one would come to investigate the sudden surge of chakra, which gave him another reason to end this quickly.

A red chakra appendage with a clenched fist attached to the end of it shot out from the black circle that Naruto was currently inside of. Jiraiya leap to the side just before the fist crashed into the ground next to him, throwing up all kinds of small rocks and dust. Preparing to dodge in midair should it be necessary, he was relieved when the appendage slowly shrank back towards the black circle and disappeared back inside of it.

Coming to a landing nearby, he knew just from the looks of the appendage that Naruto had gone beyond anything previous. Hopefully it wasn't more than four tails, since he didn't know if he'd be able to handle that on his own. Not to mention that if Naruto attacked him, he likely wasn't in complete control anymore, if he even had any control at all right now.

Another roar forced the black bubble around the jinchuuriki to burst, and Jiraiya could only gape in equal parts amazement and horror as he stared at what Naruto had become. Four tails of pure chakra were waving rapidly behind him, and he had crouched down to walk on all fours. He had taken on a distinctly more vulpine appearance, turning into the bijuu contained within him. However this transformation seemed to be more painful than anything else, as the Sage was certain he could make out some moans among the rumbling growls.

Reaching into a pocket inside his vest, Jiraiya grabbed a seal on a piece of paper, one that should push back the Kyuubi's chakra and allow Naruto to regain control. His original intent was to only use this in case of emergencies, but he was wary about battling against Naruto all out while in Water Country. If they were in Fire Country it would be a different matter, though still dangerous.

Wasting no more time, Jiraiya clenched the seal and promptly sped forward towards Naruto. The possessed boy turned his head with huge wide eyes to look at the man as he approached, forcing Jiraiya to slow down briefly in case an attack was launched. None was, however, so he promptly picked up speed once again and dashed full-tilt towards the boy.

Naruto seemed more curious about him if anything, and appeared to be sitting there and watching him patiently. When Jiraiya finally got close enough, he unceremoniously slapped the seal onto Naruto's forehead, and waited, tense, for anything to happen.

The boy let out a roar, and Jiraiya thought he had succeeded, only to see a chakra fist form right underneath Naruto's chin, and promptly smash into his chest. He coughed and felt the wind get knocked out of him as several of his ribs gave way, and the Sage was vaguely aware of flying backwards only to come to a hard stop as his back smashed into what was likely a boulder.

Coughing and trying to inhale, Jiraiya tasted blood in his mouth and just knew that he was likely coming close to death, if not dying. Cursing his own stupidity, he tried without much success to continue breathing. His ribcage was shattered, of that there was no doubt. Trying to think of something to do, he realized that he couldn't even move his arms, so there were likely other problems as well. He would have sighed, but not being able to breathe made that an impossibility. To make matters worse, his vision was starting to dim...

* * *

_Three minutes ago, six miles to the east..._

The four man squad came to a sudden halt as an eerie pressure started to settle around their shoulders. They all shared a look, as they each knew what this feeling was, even if they had experienced it under different circumstances.

"What is Naruto-kun doing here?"

"It's known within the village that he was traveling with Jiraiya-sama. They are probably out here for the same reason we are. Wouldn't you agree, Zabuza-san?"

The lanky Jounin spared his counterpart a brief look before turning and nodding to one of the other members. "We'll go and investigate. I indirectly owe the kid, so if he's up against something where he's gotta call on the Kyuubi, I doubt it's a pretty situation. Diamond formation, I'll take point. Genma and Raidou on the sides and Haku bringing up the rear. Let's get there fast."

A chorus of agreement met the former Mist shinobi's ears and he promptly turned in the direction where the feeling was coming from, taking off like a rocket as dust and gravel was kicked up under their feet. The area of the island they were on contained a dormant volcano, however most of the area was still nothing more than rocks and other debris. The hills were easy to get lost in as well, so pinpointing Naruto's exact position would be slightly difficult since the power was so completely overwhelming. Due to the amount of gravel-sized rocks around, footing could be treacherous as well to all but the most experienced in chakra control.

Luckily it didn't take as long as any of them thought it might, since there was a trail of what looked to be smoke rising in the distance, and the aura of power seemed to originate from that location. Pouring on even more speed, Zabuza didn't look back to see if the rest of the squad was keeping up with him. He'd been itching for a real fight for a while now, and if Naruto was fighting, he'd be more than happy to jump in and assist.

After cresting the next ridge, though, he stopped short as the source of the power came into view. There was a black ball with the trail of smoke coming from it, and... Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin was standing a respectable distance from it.

"Wh-What's going on?"

Zabuza turned, to realize that the other three members of his squad were lined up to his left. Raidou, the one next to him was the one who asked the question, but before he could say anything Genma shook his head and answered him.

"That's definitely Naruto's power, it's probably just Jiraiya-sama testing him."

A roar interrupted anything else that might have been said, and a concussive wave from the sound forced them to all take a step backwards to keep from being knocked over.

The squad continued watching the scene unfold, only for all of them to stare in shock as Jiraiya moved up close to the cloaked Naruto then quickly get sent backwards, crashing into a nearby boulder. Right as Jiraiya went flying, Naruto began howling in earnest as he clutched at his forehead.

"Well, crap. Haku, go and check on the old man. Raidou, Genma, on me. Hopefully we can stop Naruto before this gets out of hand."

He didn't wait for affirmatives as he burst forward, coming to a stop right in front of the howling teenager.

"Naruto! Can you hear me?"

The howling stopped for a moment, and Zabuza felt unsteady as the eerie white eyes looked him over once before the boy grunted, then started moaning and clutching at his head again. Reaching over his shoulder to grab his sword, Zabuza only stopped when he realized that one of the tails was disappearing.

"Zabuza, how should we do this? None of us have any suppression abilities."

The squad leader tossed Genma a quick glance before looking at Naruto once again, realizing that the remaining three tails all looked shorter.

"We wait. It looks like something is happening."

Sure enough, once the tails had completely receded, the red and black chakra began pulling away from the rest of Naruto's body. The groaning and whimpering continued unabated, especially as Naruto's face became visible – his eyes were screwed shut and a constant grimace took hold of his features. As the remainder of the chakra cleared, a white note that had the word 'seal' scrawled on it revealed itself on Naruto's forehead, and promptly fell to the ground when all of the Kyuubi's chakra had receded.

Naruto stood unsteadily on his feet for several seconds after that, and Genma and Raidou quickly rushed in from the sides to catch his arms and set the teen down gently. Zabuza leaned over and felt Naruto's neck, searching for a pulse. Finding one, he pulled his hand back and nodded to the others.

"He's alive. Looks like the chakra burned his skin though. Doesn't seem like he has control, huh?"

Raidou shook his head, "It's known by most of the shinobi of Konoha that he doesn't, but I'm surprised Jiraiya-sama allowed it to get this far."

Zabuza shrugged, and looked towards the older man who was laying on the ground nearby. Haku had apparently finished up, as the young man was walking over towards their group. "I'm sure the man had his reasons, if he planned for this, that is. What's the situation, Haku?"

The effeminate teen nodded as he approached, then quickly settled down next to Naruto, checking him over. "Jiraiya-sama had many broken ribs, but was otherwise very lucky. I fixed them as best I could out here without a backup, so he will need proper medical attention... the sooner the better. As for Naruto-kun, it just looks like his skin is burnt, I can fix that easily."

Zabuza grunted, then looked at the other two. "You guys help me prepare the old man for transport to a medical facility while Haku finishes up with Naruto. I think there was a hospital in our last town, so we'll have to backtrack a bit."

No sooner had the other three moved off, Naruto groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

"What... ugh, what happened?"

"It seems that you used four tails worth of power when you were not prepared for it."

Blinking, Naruto looked at a face he recognized, but couldn't place a name. "Hey! I... I know you! You're... you're... uhm..."

"Haku. We met and fought briefly in Wave Country."

"Yeah! Haku!" Naruto breathed in heavily for several moments, closing his eyes and obviously thinking for several moments while Haku worked on healing him. "It looks like you got your arm reattached successfully?"

"Yes, the doctors in Konoha performed the operation, as we hoped. I got most of the mobility in it back thanks to them as well."

Naruto smiled and opened his eyes again as he winced; all of his skin still felt like it was on fire. "Glad to hear it. How did you get here anyway? Did you go back to the Mist Village?"

The blond heard Haku chuckle, then winced as a bright light flashed in his eyes momentarily. Blinking a few times, Naruto slowly focused on what it was that was causing the reflection, and let out a coughing laugh when he realized it was a Konoha forehead protector that was wrapped around the arm that Haku had lost that day on the bridge.

"We had a mission to come out here to establish what has happened in Mist. I'm assuming you and Jiraiya-sama are out here for the same reason."

Naruto nodded slowly, letting his head rest back down on the hard earth. "There were rumors that the Fourth Mizukage died not too long ago. Ero-Sennin wanted to verify it, so we were meeting with some people to find out." He blinked once then quickly spoke up again before Haku could say anything, "Oh yeah, is he okay? What happened?"

Haku simply looked puzzled. "Ero... Sennin?"

Naruto simply chuckled. "Yeah, that's my nickname for Jiraiya-jiisan. He's an old pervert."

"I... I see. Well then, yes... we are out here for the same reason. Jiraiya-sama is in stable condition, as well. You injured him, but I fixed the worst of his injuries already."

"Hmm. Thank you." Naruto went silent, feeling remorseful as Haku continued to heal the burns, most of which felt like they were gone. He couldn't believe that Haku was a Konoha shinobi now. Sasuke would be surprised, if he didn't already know. Those thoughts eventually reminded him of something else, "Hey, what happened to Zabuza?"

"What? Oh... he's our squad leader."

"Eh? Zabuza joined too? How?"

Haku chuckled again as he pulled away from healing Naruto, helping the younger teen sit up.

"We were being kept in Konoha for a while on the grounds of having potential information, but we both really understood it was because of my bloodline. Then one day, Godaime Hokage-sama came to me and offered to fully restore the mobility of my arm and offer permanent asylum if both myself and Zabuza-sama would join Konoha's forces."

Haku continued helping Naruto as he talked, stabilizing the teen who was wobbling a bit as he climbed to his feet. "It all really changed that day, especially once I went to ask Zabuza-sama what he thought about staying in Konoha for a while..."

* * *

_Three weeks later, an island near Sea Country..._

The bright colored sand under his fingers shifted as Naruto took his time drawing seal designs in the fine grains of the beach. Any noise this action would produce was drowned out by the ambient noise of the sea as small waves crashed upon the shore.

Jiraiya had brought them to one of the minor outlying islands of Sea Country that was supposedly uninhabited. The reason for this was twofold; it gave plenty of free space where Naruto could practice his fuuinjutsu without being bothered. Secondly, in case something _did_ happen with what they were going to try, the collateral damage would be kept low.

Naruto had spent the last several hours drawing the design for the seal needed into the sand on a part of the beach. After months of study, he was fairly sure that he had found the proper adjustments needed for his current seal to allow him more control over what happened with Kyuubi... and not in a negative way either. As for Jiraiya, he had been wandering around the current island they were on during that time, supposedly checking to make sure that no one lived on the island, like the main island inhabitants claimed.

Strangely enough, just as Naruto put the finishing touches on the array he had been working on, his sensei had come from around the side of the beach where he was, giggling as he scribbled furiously in one of his many notebooks. Frowning, the blond watched as the white haired older man gradually approached, then paused for a moment, as if thinking about something. A few seconds later he grinned lecherously once again, and began writing like a madman.

"Ero-sennin?"

"Hm? Oh hey, Naruto." The man didn't even look up, but continued writing instead, "Let me tell you, there is a really nice view on one of the other islands southeast of here. The ladies seem to be enjoying themselves a lot."

While not exactly a total pervert like Jiraiya, Naruto appreciated the fairer of the two sexes, most certainly. Various images quickly passed through his mind before shaking his head and even frowning a little.

"We came out here to get away from other people. If you can see them, aren't they a little close for comfort?"

Jiraiya slowly stopped scribbling, looking at Naruto and squinting for a moment. After having a staring contest with his charge for a few seconds, the man shook his head. "I had to use my telescope, and even then I couldn't see very well. This island is uninhabited and isolated from all the others, which is just what we need. If Kyuubi somehow gets loose, I've set containment seals all around the perimeter of the island, so it wouldn't be going anywhere except back inside you. Or me, if it became necessary. Though the chakra would slowly burn me inside out, so I'd need to high-tail it to Konoha."

Naruto nodded, and turned back towards his seal design in the sand. Walking over to a backpack with his items, he rummaged around for a few seconds and pulled out a large bottle of ink. Moving back over to the seal design, he took the cap off the container and slowly tilted it so that a thin line of ink streamed from the opening.

Moving swiftly, he stepped around the design, the ink taking to the guided course in the sand that Naruto's fingertips had made. His face scrunched up in concentration, Naruto carefully filled in the entire drawn outline of the seal in the sand.

The reason for doing it this way was once again twofold; the most important was the malleability of the sand itself, it helped to draw a rough outline in a medium before actually using the ink – a person was less likely to waste ink and possibly paper that way.

The second was for both pride and secrecy. The ink wouldn't last long in the sand, especially not with the incoming tide. Once the seal was used, that was it, except in rare cases. It would be easy to remove any trace of this seal having ever been here. Most seal artisans wanted to keep their unique seals to themselves or close friends, and not have others reverse engineer them for their own purposes.

Jiraiya watched carefully as Naruto finished up, then replaced the cap on the ink container and set it down in the sand next to his pack. Jumping up, the blond teen focused for a second then leaped up into the air and landed right in the middle of the seal, in a small closed circle.

Bringing his hands together into a now very familiar cross shaped sign, he focused yet again, longer than the last time, and shouted out the name of his signature technique.

There was a cloud of smoke, as was typical whenever Naruto created a Shadow Clone. After it cleared, Naruto and Jiraiya both stood there and stared as the clone stared right back at them.

It was Naruto who took a step forward, waving his hand slightly, his eyes slightly squinted as he looked at the clone. "Well? Did it work? Or are you... me?"

The clone simply blinked at Naruto for a moment, then slowly looked down at the ground, then the surroundings, and finally raised its hands, looking at them somewhat curiously. Finally it spoke, and while it sounded like Naruto's voice, it was also slightly deeper.

"What is... this?"

"You mean... it actually worked? Are you Kyuubi?" It was Jiraiya who spoke this time, both his expression and his voice gave away how shocked he was.

"Of course I am. What is the meaning of this? How can I exist like this, I don't feel my chakra at all!"

The voice started growing in pitch, but Naruto ignored it, instead cheering and quickly embracing the clone. At first the Kyuubi-clone looked at the side of Naruto's head with a completely blank look, before promptly placing its hands between them and roughly forcing the blond teen away.

"What have you done, Naruto? I thought your plan was to free my form from the seal temporarily, not place my mind into this... this... abomination."

Naruto simply laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Getting you out is a little more complicated than I thought it would be, but I thought getting you out for a little bit, even if it's in one of my clones, would be better than making you sit in there and wait."

"You mean-"

Naruto waved his hands in front of him, looking slightly panicked as the Kyuubi stared at him with something resembling a glare. It was hard to tell, since he was used to looking at expressions on a face that always looked like it was angry and in the form of a fox. "I'm still working on it though, I promise! I wanted to do something that was temporary first, just to let you get outside. That's all! Right, Ero-Sennin?"

Jiraiya simply chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "I was going along with your ideas, brat. I wasn't completely sure what you had in mind, but I wasn't going to be surprised if a giant red fox suddenly showed up. I'm kinda glad that didn't happen though, because that would just cause panic if anyone saw it."

The older man turned his gaze onto the Kyuubi-clone, looking curious. "How does it feel, Kyuubi?"

The clone's face scrunched up in yet another expression, this one resembling distaste. "I do not know how to explain it. Uncomfortable, perhaps. I cannot feel any of my own chakra. What did you do to me, Naruto?"

The blond in question shrugged. "I figured out a way to link a summoning technique to the seal that keeps you contained inside me. However, like most summoning techniques, it uses the summoners chakra to initiate the summoning transfer, and the summon finishes it using their own. The problem was that your chakra can't leave the seal, so I could summon you, but you wouldn't have a body to go into. That would be bad."

"So you made one of your clones and dumped me into that. I see." Kyuubi gained a calculating look, staring at the seal that Naruto had placed on the ground before performing the technique.

Naruto heard Jiraiya chuckle a little from behind him. "I've gotta say I'm impressed. I don't think I would have thought of doing that. I probably would have gone for broke, trying to get all of the Kyuubi out, or nothing at all."

The blond rubbed the back of his head and grinned, blushing at the praise. He quickly stopped thinking about it, however, when Kyuubi crouched down and started tracing fingers over the seal design on the ground.

"What's up?"

At first, Kyuubi didn't respond. Eventually the fingers stopped tracing and the occupied clone raised its head to look at him. Naruto's own eyes widened slightly when he saw the Kyuubi's eyes staring at him - they were still his own striking blue color, but the pupils were no longer round, they were the sharp slits that Naruto usually saw from behind the cage.

"I find myself having to admit that even I am somewhat impressed, if such a thing is possible. I am forced to wonder why no one has ever thought of something like this before." Standing up, Kyuubi looked around the beach, and then up at the sky before talking again. "I don't understand why, but I believe I'm feeling something that you humans call... gratitude. Whatever - I must think on this."

Before either Naruto or Jiraiya could say another word, the clone promptly dispelled. Both shinobi stood still for a moment and stared at the spot where Kyuubi dispelled itself before Naruto suddenly jumped up and began cheering.

"Whoa there, kid! Settle down! You did good, but you still have a lot of work to do, remember?"

The hermit sighed with a resigned smile on his face as Naruto tore down the beach towards the water, still cheering. Oh well, he could let the kid celebrate for a little while.

* * *

_Two months later, an oasis in the deserts of Wind Country..._

"Ahhhh! I'm so thirsty!"

Jiraiya chuckled as he looked up from his notes, squinting in the bright sunlight as he watched the teen drop his packs and sprint for the small lake. He still couldn't get over his shock at how Naruto had turned down his offer to get him a new orange outfit, since his old ones were getting all worn out - not to mention the fact that the boy finally hit his growth spurt.

At first he had looked so excited about getting a new outfit, but his expression had become sullen as he stared at a new orange and black ensemble. He mumbled something under his breath, and Jiraiya thought he heard the Kyuubi mentioned, but he didn't ask for the teen to repeat.

Then to his surprise Naruto came back with something that actually seemed like decent shinobi gear... black pants and shirt with mesh underneath, and a dark green vest to go over the shirt. The vest was a simple thing with only two pockets, it was obviously made for civilian use, but Naruto had since placed various seals all over the place. Some of the seals Naruto was using Jiraiya had never even seen before; he wanted to ask about them, but was willing to let his student keep some things to himself and share only if he wanted to.

He thought all of the orange was gone, but there was one strip of cloth that had made its way into the pile. After going into the changing room and coming out, apparently Naruto decided he needed some orange after all, and had that strip of cloth tied around his left bicep. The sage couldn't help but snicker, and paid for it later when Naruto decided to prank him the next time he left to do 'research'.

"Ero-Sennin!"

Jiraiya started as he felt a punch against his arm, apparently he had been so deep in thought that he had ignored his student. Not a wise thing to do, knowing the things Naruto was capable of when he wanted a person's attention.

"Huh? Sorry, what's up?"

"I said, do you think I can try the modified version of the summoning seal I've been working on all week? Is it safe here?"

"I'll check, give me a moment."

Exhaling and calming himself, Jiraiya slowly began to draw on the power of nature around him. Entering what was dubbed 'Sage Mode' by the toads was always a risky proposition, but he'd been getting a lot of practice recently when he had to make sure no one was around - just in case Naruto had an error with his seals.

He didn't need to enter fully into the mode, just enough to be able to detect human chakra sources nearby, most of which stuck out like a sore thumb when compared to natural energy. Unfortunately it would be a little tricky in the desert, as even natural energy tended to be very thin here.

"I can't sense anyone within a few kilometers of here. You should be fine."

Naruto nodded and then turned away likely to go prepare for the summoning, but then stopped and looked back over his shoulder, "Hey, can you teach me how to do that sense thing that you've been doing?"

Jiraiya blinked at his student for a moment, before chuckling and shaking his head, "I'd love to teach you, but you need to be a little older and have a better grasp over your chakra than you do now. If you attempt to learn what I need to teach you too early, it could damage your chakra coils by crushing them... or you could be turned to stone."

Naruto looked shocked, and seemed to pale, but it was hard to tell in the bright light. "Okay, never mind then. I'll ask again later."

Chuckling, the white haired man watched as Naruto walked away from the water of the oasis and towards the nearby sand. He had to admit that he was amazed by the blond's progress with fuuinjutsu, and was curious if it was something in the Uzumaki blood, or if it was something he inherited from both parents.

Even though the teen still didn't know who they were - something Jiraiya vowed to tell the boy before they got back to Konoha, if he found the opportunity - he had likely been lucky enough to inherit his mother's understanding and his father's ingenuity. Kushina was superb at fuuinjutsu by all rights, but it was a skill that every Uzumaki was very well versed in, as it was the forte of their clan. Minato on the other hand, was a genius, and able to bend the rules of everything Kushina taught him to make it his own. Hiraishin was the man's signature technique, and Jiraiya laughed every time when he remembered that it was created totally by accident.

He watched as Naruto skillfully made swift lines in the sand, never moving his fingertips away to check his work, almost as if he knew exactly what he wanted to do, and what was the next turn he wanted to make. Surprisingly, this seal so far seemed much smaller than the last time, apparently Naruto had figured out a way to change what he had done before back in Sea Country. All things considered it made sense - Jiraiya had suspended Naruto's other training because the teen requested some free time to study fuuinjutsu more in-depth. Whenever they weren't traveling he would see Naruto's nose in a book, or making some kind of notes of his own, or even asking for advice. It was surreal, since the teen could still be an immature, hyperactive brat at times, but as soon as he focused... to Jiraiya it felt like teaching Minato all over again.

Besides that, Naruto had figured out about using his Shadow Clones for training at the end of last week. He found out the hard way that reading with clones is not the same as physically training with them, however, as his mental fortitude could not handle the encyclopedia worth of information dumped on his brain. He was promptly knocked into unconsciousness and was there for eight hours, and he barely remembered anything after waking up. The best way to learn with Shadow Clones was with hands-on experience, so he generally read up on techniques while the clones practiced them.

Before Jiraiya realized it the blond was forming the hand sign and summoning another clone. Involuntarily holding his breath, he waited for the small amount of smoke to clear, and was finding himself almost disappointed when the clone looked exactly like Naruto once again.

Nothing was said between the summoner and the clone for several drawn out moments, the two simply stared at each other, as if they were communicating mentally. Jiraiya's eyes opened wide as he thought more and more about the implications of that, and decided to find out if that was really what was going on.

"Hey you two, how's about sharing the conversation with the third party?"

Both blonds turned to look at him, but to his surprise it was the Kyuubi that asked another question, and a rather simple one at that, "Why?"

Jiraiya's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of the water a few times before he found his voice again. "Well, I am Naruto's sensei, correct? Shouldn't I know what's going on in case he needs any help with anything?"

The Kyuubi-clone's face twitched and settled into something resembling a grimace while staring at him, "It is not something you need to know about at this time, Toad Sage. He will tell you when it works properly."

Once again Jiraiya found himself dumbfounded. He was expecting a Kyuubi that would shred everything in sight to pieces once it got any kind of freedom. But this one was actually sparring with him verbally. Well, so long as it wasn't actually Naruto playing some kind of elaborate prank on him. The blond did currently have a very amused look on his face. But still, those seals were definitely real enough, and this clone did have something slightly... different about it.

"So can you at least tell me what's changed? This clone feels a bit different from the others, but it doesn't remind me of quite what Kyuubi's chakra feels like."

"That's because Naruto managed to pull enough of my chakra through the seal and put it in this clone to reinforce it. If possible, it feels more... natural to me as well. The last time my consciousness was essentially prisoner to Naruto's chakra, this time I have some of my own to control and mold Naruto's chakra in this clone, as long as he allows it."

Jiraiya listened carefully as the Kyuubi talked. It was almost a surreal experience, and even Naruto seemed to be surprised at how much the Kyuubi was saying, if his expression and posture was any indication. Then, all at once, something seemed to click in the Sage's head.

"Wait, have you been helping him with the seals?"

Kyuubi simply stared at Jiraiya, deadpan. "Of course."

"But last time you were out here, you didn't seem to believe what had happened was possible!"

"I did not know what Naruto meant when he spoke of summoning me, much like you didn't. When I finally understood what he was trying to do, I decided to help guide his studies. That is all."

Before Jiraiya could make any reply, there was another brief cloud of smoke that surrounded the Kyuubi clone. When the light smoke cleared, both shinobi stared in shock as the clone did not look like Naruto any longer. Instead now it had the appearance of a human who was in their late twenties to early thirties, dark red hair that turned black at the ends which went down to the middle of his... or her... back. At first, Jiraiya thought it was a female because of facial features and the length of their hair, but then upon further inspection he quickly noticed it had no bust to speak of.

If nothing else, the figure was completely androgynous. The clothes... were relatively old fashioned, however; of that there was no denying.

"You both can stop examining me now. This is a form I once used. Since I have some of my chakra with me, I can apply a transformation to Naruto's clone." This new form's voice was surprisingly light and soft, compared to what Naruto claimed Kyuubi's voice normally sounded like, or even when it was using Naruto's own voice.

Naruto voiced his opinion before Jiraiya could, "Wow! When did this happen? I've never seen you like this before!"

Jiraiya watched, amazed, as the new figure looked at Naruto with now bright red eyes, and gave him a tiny ghost of a smile.

"What, did you think I always traveled around as a huge fox?"

* * *

**A/N:** So a little surprise there from Kyuubi at the end. Ho ho, here come the questions, I bet! Anyway I don't really have much to say at the moment about my fics at the moment, I'm working on them as I can. Experiments just seems to be the one my muse is most fond of at the moment. There aren't enough quality fanfics out there of Naruto x Kyuubi (crack pairing, I know) where Kyuubi isn't automatically some hot chick that wants to tap Naruto even when he's six (*gags*) or a bastard that makes him die early and resurrects him as some super killing machine... et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, next time we come back Naruto will finally be fifteen, the age where things can finally start getting a bit more... interesting.

Much love to my beta, Denim88, as always for finding those little nagging errors that just don't want to go away permanently.

For those of you that check out my profile on occasion and have sent me comments about Miner Wars 2081 (the game I joined the Dev Team of as a writer) I have graduated/been promoted to working on the Main Campaign and dialogues, and the website, and... and... pretty much everything. Before I was confined to working on a specific aspect, but now I've been given free reign! It is the first stepping stone to my ultimate goal of world domin... oh wait... what was that shiny object just now...

_**Edit:** I'm only putting this here because it was mentioned in my first review - this fic will not be slash/yaoi. I don't read or write that stuff. To each their own, but it is not my cup of tea. Kyuubi still has a few more changes to go through yet._


	7. Fifteen

Note: This is the longest chapter I have ever written for any of my stories. Everything here takes place while Naruto is fifteen years old. I suggest using the restroom before you start reading, as well as maybe grabbing a drink and a snack. This will be more than a five minute read. Much more. Enjoy!

* * *

**Fifteen**

_Five months later, southern Rice Field Country..._

Naruto let out a grunt as he was pushed backwards, his feet digging into the ground behind him in order to keep his body from toppling over. His current sparring partner certainly had no desire to pull any punches, even when he was obviously caught off guard.

He was granted no reprieve either; the moment Naruto steadied himself his opponent quickly lashed out with a brutal series of swipes, staggering him until he tried to move backwards again, only to find himself backed up against a tree.

"That's three. You have lost. Again."

The blond shinobi let out a sigh as he rubbed his throbbing forearms, sliding down along the side of the trunk until he was sitting on the soft dirt at the base of the tree. "Every time I think I see an opening, you catch it and hit me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

Kyuubi stared down at Naruto with its bright red eyes, frowning. "It's called baiting, and you always fall for it. I have won our last thirty six spars. I was expecting you to best me, or at least come close in one of them by now. Not using your Shadow Clones should not cripple you to this degree."

"You've been keeping track?" Naruto's voice was a mix between embarrassment and indignation. "If I could use the clones I would have won by now."

"Of course. I know how you are when it comes to competition, even if you don't like to admit it. You have changed since you were younger... but not that much. As for the clones, there may come a time when you will not have the opportunity to use them, and will need to rely on your own body. That is what I am trying to teach you. Besides, the clones are only as skilled as their creator."

Naruto stared at Kyuubi's typically expressionless face for a moment before closing his eyes and nodding. He heard the bijuu snort, then begin to walk away, the grass rustling under its feet. It was odd for him to still think of the Kyuubi as an 'it', but the bijuu was still strangely determined about not being classified by human gender terms. Then again, its current look was so androgynous that it was hard to decide on what gender to use, anyway.

Kyuubi's human face reminded Naruto of Haku in a way, as it could be classified as either male or female, more likely female if you couldn't see the rest of the body that was attached to it. Kyuubi's build was rather lithe, and seemed to be able to bend in ways that Naruto knew would likely break or severely strain his own bones and muscles if he tried; having a form that was made entirely of chakra likely came with the bonus of not being inhibited by such things.

The spars they had been doing lately were only possible because of Naruto's growing skill in fuuinjutsu - even Jiraiya had been astounded with the progress, though he chalked up much of the blond's success to the constant use of Shadow Clones. They had come in handy for things other than fuuinjutsu practice as well; every other shinobi discipline that Jiraiya was trying to pound into his skull was moving forward at a rapid pace. After taking 'time off' from training to work exclusively on fuuinjutsu for a while, Jiraiya told him that they were quickly catching up to where he planned on being by this time in his training.

His fuuinjutsu now allowed him to send a marginal amount of Kyuubi's chakra into his own clone - the one Kyuubi inhabited whenever Naruto summoned it. At first the bijuu appeared agitated about being summoned on a near daily basis, but eventually became accustomed to it, and even seemed to expect and even anticipate the summons after a few months.

Naruto had noticed some other changes about the Kyuubi as well. While it never pulled punches in spars, _"Feeling this pain will not only make you stronger, but you will likely also want to avoid feeling it again,"_ it still seemd to genuinely care for Naruto's well being in an odd way. Not just because if he died, Kyuubi apparently 'died' as well, but as they interacted more and more it seemed as though Kyuubi would often be analyzing him. Perhaps he was looking into it too much, and it really was nothing more than the bijuu trying to make him a stronger 'jinchuuriki'.

_"Are you quite done examining my behavior?"_

Naruto quickly sat upright, his eyes opening to see Kyuubi frowning at him from the opposite side of their clearing.

_"I was broadcasting?"_

_"Very loudly."_

_"Oops. I didn't know I was."_

He heard Kyuubi snort once again, this time in his mind. _"Obviously. Come, follow me. There is something here you may be interested to see."_

Offering a mental nod, Naruto quickly hopped up towards his feet and jogged towards the other side of the clearing where Kyuubi began swiftly moving through the trees. The mental connection they shared was yet another thing he had added into his special summon, courtesy of direction from the Kyuubi. When he originally asked why, the bijuu had surprised him, saying there were some things that it may have to tell Naruto which others didn't need to know, including Jiraiya. Naruto wasn't sure if he should have considered it as a symbol of trust or pragmatism, but it still did a good job of making him feel special.

It didn't take long for the blond to reach an opening in the trees, or more accurately the end of the treeline; the line itself was easily visible once he was able to look around more. Kyuubi was standing up at the top of a little hill not to far away, beckoning for him to come closer. Doing as instructed, he swiflty moved over or around the few smaller trees, shrubs, and rocks in his way to the top of the hill.

He wasn't expecting the hill to suddenly stop, however, and if it wasn't for Kyuubi sticking an arm out, he might have barreled right over the edge of the cliff. It was a breathtaking sight, looking out over the edge... it was easily a hundred meter drop, probably bigger. It was obviously not a natural valley, the sides of it were a bit too smooth, and down below there was no river running through the middle of it. There were no trees, either, from what he could see - it was all tall grasses or bushes. There was another cliff on the other side of the clearing, which was about forty meters away, though it was barely half the height of the one they were on.

"Wow! It doesn't look natural, bit it's still cool!"

"Hmm." Kyuubi's voice came across fairly monotone, as usual, but there seemed to be a hint of pride to it when the bijuu spoke, "It is not natural, because I made it."

Naruto's head shifted around so fast, he probably came close to breaking his own neck. "What? Why?"

As if prepared for this question, the redhead began talking right away. "It was here, long ago, that I fought and fatally injured the host of the Hachibi. Kumogakure located me and wished to capture me for their own purposes, and brought a fairly large force along with the Hachibi Jinchuuriki to do it. They failed, obviously, and lost the life of their host once they extracted the Hachibi from him, since I crippled said host beyond redemption. Unfortunately... since my location was revealed I knew it was only a matter of time before others would come. One did."

"Who?"

Kyuubi was silent for a moment, and Naruto pouted, figuring it was one of those things that he wouldn't get the answer to yet. Sighing and turning to look out over the valley again, he was surprised to hear the Kyuubi speak in a more subdued voice, which was highly unusual.

"His name is Uchiha Madara."

"U-Uchiha? Like Sasuke and Itachi?"

"Correct."

"Was it just him or did Konoha forces come with him?"

Kyuubi chuckled, another thing it did rarely, but it had been doing more often over the past few months. "He had already exiled himself from Konoha a while beforehand, from what I knew. He came alone, and subdued me alone."

Naruto just stared, incredulous, at what Kyuubi was saying. There was someone able to subdue the most powerful of all the bijuu alone? He had a hard enough time just handling three tails!

Kyuubi noticed Naruto's discomfort as it nodded and turned to go back down the hill. "This is why you are training, Naruto. People like Madara are ones you will have to face, likely sooner than we may realize if what Itachi said had any merit. Come, it's time for more training. The Sage should be back soon as well."

Naruto followed behind the bijuu silently. Jiraiya had told him more about the people of that organization... Akatsuki. Things would definitely get worse before they ever got better, that was for certain.

* * *

_Six weeks later, Iron Country border post with Lightning Country..._

Jiraiya chuckled as he left the border post of Lightning Country, the stiff Jounin guards making him glad most of Konoha's forces didn't act like they constantly had a stick shoved up their asses. Cloud was known for their tightly structured military, however, so it didn't really surprise him... much. The fact that one of the Densetsu no Sannin was in their backyard for a while likely also had them tense.

The Sage grumbled and rubbed his arms underneath his cloak as a breeze kicked up. It was already cold in Iron Country, as was the norm for this particluar area. Unfortunately it was starting to snow, and while not a bad sign, it was certainly an inconvenient one if there was a lot of accumulation.

"Finished already?"

Jumping up slightly, Jiraiya whirled around to see a woman standing not too far away from him. A woman that looked rather familiar due to the length of her hair, its deep red color with black ends and her bright, almost glowing red eyes. The facial features were bordering on what Jiraiya would have considered regal – strong jawline, dainty nose, pouty lips, thin eyebrows... it was as far as he had ever been concerned, the 'works'. If he didn't know who it really was, he would have been smitten.

"K... Kyuubi?"

"Good, so I am still recognizable."

Jiraiya nodded slowly, his eyes going up and down over the Kyuubi's new form several times. It was definitely more womanly than before, by far. The bijuu had apparently decided to update its outfit as well in such a way that nicely complemented its full hourglass figure. Not to mention the subtle emphasis placed on its... chest. Very nice...

"If you're ogling me that much, it means I was correct in my decision. Now, lets get back to camp before the snow gets heavier."

The Sage nodded, noting that his mouth was suddenly a bit dry. Kyuubi's new form was giving him ideas, however, and he casually reached into one of his vest pockets to grab his pencil and notebook.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh... taking notes."

"About?"

Jiraiya briefly contemplated telling a lie, but he was unsure exactly how the Kyuubi would interpret what he was going to say. Or what it would do to him when it found out he lied. So he decided to go with the simple truth.

"Seeing you in that form gave me inspiration for my book."

Kyuubi was silent, but Jiriaya refused to turn and look at the bijuu, mostly out of fear for the look it may have been giving him. Even though it was cold outside, he could feel sweat starting to form on his brow.

"Human literature. It has been a while since I've paid attention to any. Naruto doesn't really read much other than textbooks and technique scrolls, so I ignore most of it."

Strangely, Jiraiya didn't feel any calmer. "Well... my literature is known to cover a rather unique field in the book world. Some drama... some humor... and some, uhm, sex."

The silence dragged on for what felt like an eternity.

"I suppose I did well by choosing this form, then. If you're willing to write about it in such a manner, at least I know I will be able to get your attention when it is needed. Perhaps I should read your work when it is finished."

Jiraiya gulped and nodded slowly, thinking it might be best to change the subject _now_. "Ah, what about Naruto? Has he seen you yet?"

"No."

"Really? I thought you'd show him first."

Kyuubi chuckled. Jiraiya found himself enjoying that sound... and just realized that the bijuu's voice hadn't really changed a whole lot from its previous form, but it most certainly had a more feminine tone to it now.

"I know as an adult human you would understand your species' traits better than Naruto. If this form will grab your attention, then it will certainly hold his. It has been something I've been pondering about for several weeks as I sparred with him."

Jiraiya looked at Kyuubi, shocked. "You did this for Naruto?"

The redhead looked back at Jiraiya as they walked, and nodded, expression serious. "Yes. I don't think he has had enough experience fighting human females. I took this form so that he could get that required experience. Even though shinobi are supposed to ignore the gender of their opponent, I know for a fact that does not happen."

The older white haired man nodded, understanding completely. Some opponents he had faced in the past were definitely lookers, and the only reason he didn't look for too long was because Tsunade was on his team. He had plenty to look at any time he wanted to... usually. There were a few incidents that he wasn't terribly keen about remembering.

The two of them continued walking in silence for a while longer, the only noise being the crunch of their feet on freshly fallen snow, and the occasional scritching noise as Jiraiya scribbled a few notes here and there. Unfortunately he found his desire to write using the Kyuubi lacking, especially after hearing the bijuu tell him that it would read it after he was done.

The fact that it actually seemed interested in what he wrote surprised him, but not as much as he was expecting it to. While the redhead had so far been close to emotionless, there were a few moments where it seemed like it wanted to behave differently, as if it was catching itself. The only reason he caught these moments were because of his profession, and he was an expert at understanding body language. Perhaps it would be something to ask later, sometime before they headed back to Konoha.

"I have a question for you, Sage."

Surprised, Jiraiya turned his head to look at the Kyuubi, who was still staring straight ahead, though its arms were folded under its now generous chest. Jiraiya found that he had to forcefully tear his eyes away and stare straight ahead again.

"Yes?"

There was another few seconds of drawn out silence before the bijuu spoke. "I know this may seem random, but what is your reasoning for not telling Naruto about his parentage?"

Jiraiya stopped short, his face having gone slack. As if it was expecting this, Kyuubi had stopped walking at nearly the same time, watching him intently. "I'm actually surprised you didn't tell him a long time ago. Our reason for not telling him was for his own protection. He'd have more than Akatsuki after him if word about who his parents were got out. When he was younger, he wasn't exactly known for being quiet."

Kyuubi nodded, then looked up towards the snowing sky. "I see, though it was the circumstances he was placed under that made him that way."

"I know, believe me do I know." Jiraiya sighed, shaking his head, "I was planning on telling him before we went back to Konoha. Are you okay with that?"

He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that he heard the Kyuubi inhale sharply. It was a long moment before the bijuu lowered its gaze, piercing him with bright red eyes. "As far as I am concerned, my only responsibility is making sure that he is adequate enough in combat so that he doesn't get himself killed. For everything else, you may do as you wish."

Jiraiya had a feeling there was more to it than what Kyuubi was saying, as what it had just told him made a lot more questions pop into his mind - foremost being why it was worried about Naruto staying alive in the first place.

"Should I just tell him when we get back to the inn, then?"

Kyuubi hummed before replying, "That may be prudent. Get it out of the way now. I'm certain he will have some venting to do. I would not be surprised if he gets... angry."

"Wouldn't that benefit you?"

"No. Angering Naruto benefits no one, least of all myself. It just makes him easier to subdue if he cannot fight properly."

"I was always led to believe your chakra was led by anger."

Kyuubi glanced at Jiraiya briefly, before answering, "One thing that has always interested me about humanity is that you must affix a label to that which you either fear or cannot understand. My chakra is simply the focused primal energies of nature, nothing more. It is on such a grand scale and so powerful that I have been told it feels dark, heavy, and oppressing to those who do not understand the source. Hence why my bretheren and I have been classified as demons, though we are nothing of the sort."

Once again, Jiraiya found himself completely stupified. All this time, the bijuu were believed to be harbingers of doom, their chakra powerful enough to burn anyone who touched it... and it was simply an error in judgement and understanding?

"Why didn't you or any of the other bijuu try to clarify? You allowed us to believe you were all monsters!"

"Does it really matter? Who would have believed us? We were simply content to live out a solitary existence, as was our guidance from the Sage of Six Paths. Unfortunately, however, it was not long before his teachings were bastardized and we were hunted down. But that is a story for another time; we should get to Naruto, he is getting antsy."

"How do- oh, yeah. That mental thing you two do."

"Yes. He has asked me where we are at least five times since I informed him that we met up."

Jiraiya found himself chuckling, even though he was once again surprised that Kyuubi was apparently able to handle two simultaneous conversations. "Very well. I guess we should move faster then?"

Nodding, his companion said nothing but immediately took off down the path at a decent clip, kicking up snow behind it. Sighing, the Sage steeled himself for the conversation that he knew was to come.

* * *

_Thirty minutes later; an inn within a small hamlet, Iron Country..._

"Welcome ba... back?"

Both Kyuubi and Jiraiya nodded to Naruto as they entered their large room. Jiraiya was breathing heavily and red in the face, likely from both exertion and the cold outside, whereas Kyuubi looked completely normal. Other than the fact that it now apparently looked like a human woman.

"K-Kyuubi? Why... do you look like... um... that?"

Naruto knew he had to be blushing and nervous, even though he shouldn't. He kept forcing his eyes to drift away from Kyuubi, as it was very attractive in its current form, making him feel strangely uncomfortable.

The bijuu must have easily picked up on his discomfort, as it snorted and stalked over towards the window in their room, looking outside.

"I look like this for the exact reason you're acting like a fool now. You need to be prepared to encounter other humans of all kinds, and that includes the females of your species. What will happen the moment an enemy kunoichi tries to seduce you?"

Naruto's eyes became saucers. "You're – You're going to s-s-seduce me?"

"Do not be ridiculous!" Kyuubi growled and brought a hand up, rubbing it's face in a show of irritation. "Perhaps this is working a bit too well. Explain, Sage."

Jiraiya blinked as Naruto promptly whirled to look at his sensei, face openly curious. "Naruto, you have plenty of experience fighting shinobi, but you haven't fought any kunoichi yet, have you?"

The blond slowly shook his head, "Not really... unless you count Sakura-chan and Tsunade-baachan."

Jiraiya waved a hand and scowled slightly. "No, they don't count. I already know that you pull punches with your teammate, and as you are now Tsunade could still beat you easily if she actually tried."

He gestured towards the window, "That's where Kyuubi comes in. You were already blushing as soon as you saw her - I mean, it. Because of-"

The man was going to continue explaining, but the bijuu cut him off, "No... it would probably be best if you referred to me as a female, for the forseeable future anyway."

Naruto looked mildly surprised at this revelation, but Jiraiya's eyes narrowed in curiosity. "Are you sure? I thought you didn't have a gender?"

"I don't." Kyuubi turned away from the window and looked back and forth between the both of them before continuing, "However, it is within my understanding that we will start coming in contact with your human civilization more frequently as we approach the return date. I do not believe it would be wise to continue referring to myself as 'it' and 'Kyuubi', therefore I will need an identity and gender established."

Jiraiya nodded, rubbing his chin as he started to grin. "Yeah, it would make sense. Besides, it's not going to go well in Konoha if Naruto starts calling you Kyuubi within the middle of the village. Being in a female form will also help him become accustomed to being near and fighting with a powerful kunoichi."

Jiraiya's grin slowly morphed into a leer, "Besides, you're the most attractive woman I've laid my eyes on in a while."

Naruto obviously wasn't sure if he should blush or pale, but for him to remain speechless as long as he had was a feat unto itself. Kyuubi, on the other hand, was just staring at Jiraiya blankly, though one of its eyebrows had shot skyward.

"From what I know of human females, I would either be blushing right now or calling you a pervert. Whether you would consider it to be luck or the lack thereof, I am choosing to do neither."

Jiraiya chuckled and shook his head, then focused on Naruto. "Well kid, I think you should do the honors of giving _her_ a name."

The blond's mouth opened and closed a few times as he looked back and forth between Kyuubi and Jiraiya, both of whom were staring at him expectantly.

"Um... how about... Kitsune?"

Jiraiya facefaulted, though Kyuubi closed its eyes and actually seemed to consider it for a moment.

"Naruto! That's not hiding what Kyuubi is at all! It will be completely obvious!"

Kyuubi held up a hand before Naruto could retort, if he was going to. Both males focused on the newly realized female of the group. "In my wanderings, I have heard of human females with the name Kitsune before. It also pays homage to the full form I was given... so I have no argument against it."

Naruto smiled and cheered while Jiraiya sighed and shrugged. "If that's what you want I won't argue. But I think it will be obvious to some."

It was the newly-named Kitsune's turn to shrug. "So be it."

There was a moment of silence as the trio digested the new information. Kitsune seemed to be about to turn around once again, but stopped when Jiraiya spoke up.

"Speaking of our civilization, Kitsune... I think Naruto is going to have to instruct you on how to act a little more human."

Kitsune's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because otherwise you'll stick out like a social outcast if anyone tries to talk to you. Don't worry, I'll drag you around to some bars with me, and you can also run around with Naruto a bit too."

Both of the other occupants seemed to be staring at him, Naruto with incredulity, and Kyuubi with resigned acceptance.

"Upon further consideration... I believe it would also be more appropriate if I imitated a form closer to Naruto's actual age. Having used this form before, I know it will garner attention... though likely not the type we will need right now."

"A younger form? Go ahead, go ahead!" Jiraiya rubbed his hands together and cackled with glee as he stared at Kitsune, completely forgetting that Naruto was still in the room as well. Kitsune gave him an odd look before closing her eyes, and with a burst of red chakra her form immediately changed, as did her attire.

"Woohoo! Perfect girlfriend material for Naruto!"

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto stared at his sensei, completely aghast, before turning back to look at Kitsune – and promptly going red in the face. The new Kitsune was nearly as impressive as her older counterpart, though her hair was now much shorter, only going down just below her shoulders. Naruto was sitting crosslegged on the ground so they couldn't compare how tall she was to him, but since she looked to be about his age they were proabably about the same height now as well.

Her figure had slimmed slightly too, though her bust size appeared unchanged. It was hard to tell without staring too much, however, as her attire was another large adjustment compared to the formal attire she had been donning previously. It was now a good imitation of Naruto's, minus the Konoha forehead protector. The vest wasn't green either, but was instead a very deep red. In another gesture of similarity, instead of an orange piece of cloth around her left bicep, she had a bright red one.

"What's the matter, Naruto, is she a little too hot for you to handle?"

Naruto waved his arms about in a panic. "No, it's just weird! I'm used to Kyuubi being a big fox!"

"Kitsune."

The blond turned to gape at the girl who had corrected him, only to catch himself staring at her before turning away and blushing even more. She was every bit as pretty as she was in her older form, but now it would be even more distracting since she was obviously closer to his age. He was so shaken up that he didn't even think twice about her correcting him to use her new name.

"Ohoho! As much as he will like to deny it, I think little Naruto-kun has a new crush!"

Naruto settled for growling and levelling a glare at his sensei, who simply chortled as he poked fun at his student. It wasn't until Kitsune spoke again that the teasing session ended.

"Perhaps you should talk to him about what we discussed earlier, Sage?"

Jiraiya's teasing effort promptly died, along with any enthusiasm that he had been displaying. The sudden change was easily picked up on by the blond, who began tossing worried glances between the other two in the room.

"What's going on?"

"Naruto... it's..." Jiraiya let out a long sigh as he moved to sit in one of the chairs in the room. "I know you've asked me this before, but I refused to talk about it before now. It's about your parents."

The jinchuuriki tossed a quizzical glance towards Kitsune, who was standing still with her head tilted forward slightly, eyes closed. Noticing that, he immediately focused on Jiraiya with his full attention.

"You're going to tell me now?" The pure excitement in his voice as he bounced a little from where he was sitting was very obvious.

"Yes, I am. But before I do, I want you to understand that there were reasons why you weren't told before now. The first of which is that at least now you're able to protect yourself well enough when alone, and even better when Kitsune helps you."

Naruto simply nodded, hanging on every word. Jiraiya leaned forward in his chair, placing his forearms on his knees as he stared at his latest student. "You've known for a while now that what we teach the children in the Academy is that the Kyuubi was killed by the Yondaime Hokage; that is a lie which we've already talked about several times before."

A snort from Kitsune filled in the brief silence between Jiraiya's statements.

"Another secret that has been kept from the entire village and the majority of its shinobi population is that the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was in fact your father."

Naruto stared at his sensei in shock for barely a second before promptly looking down at his hands, which opened and closed a few times. Jiraiya paused, willing to let Naruto come to terms with what he had just been told, mentally preparing himself for any outbursts. Letting his eyes briefly wander towards Kitsune, he noticed that she was watching Naruto intently as well.

"I see..." The blond's voice was but a murmur, growing louder as he continued talking, "What about my mother?"

Jiraiya took a deep breath before continuing, "She was from the former Whirlpool Country, she came to live in Konoha as a young girl, about a decade before her home was devastated by the Third Shinobi War. Her name was Uzumaki Kushina."

Naruto nodded as he absorbed the information. There was a long pause where no one spoke or moved, but the blond finally looked up again, and asked the question Jiraiya knew would come, the one he dreaded.

"I know my father died using the technique to seal Kyu... Kitsune inside of me. What happened to my mother?"

Jiraiya cringed internally, he hadn't actually been there but had been given the entire blow by blow account courtesy of Sarutobi-sensei. With Kitsune actually being right there, it would be a lot harder for him to say this than if she was still the fox that-

"I killed them."

Both of the males in the room focused quickly on Kitsune, who simply stared emotionlessly right back at Naruto. Jiraiya scowled slightly, Kitsune obviously wasn't sympathetic in the least, if she even knew what the word meant. Naruto on the other hand; his expressions were constantly flickering from shock, to outrage, to sadness, or some attempted combination of two or all of them. After a few cycles of this they eventually evened out, though it wasn't hard to see that he was forcefully reigning himself in.

Without another word, he promptly shot up to his feet and moved swiftly towards the door, yanking it open, but quietly closing it behind him. Even when he was agitated or in obvious pain, he was considerate of any others who may have been at the inn.

Rubbing his eyes briefly, Jiraiya sighed as he stood up, "Well, that went better than I thought it would. I was expecting him to go ballistic. I guess I should go find him and attempt to perform some sort of damage cont-"

"No."

Kitsunes interruption was sharp, and Jiraiya looked over his shoulder towards her. "What?"

"You know as well as I do that the first question out of his mouth will be 'Why?'. Do you know why I did it?"

"I don't. But you could always tell me. I have to say that I've been curious."

"I will explain my reasoning to you after I tell Naruto. They were his parents, after all."

Sighing yet again, Jiraiya shook his head this time as he turned to face Kitsune. "Just... try to be nice. If it's something you can do, I mean."

"We shall see." As Kitsune started to walk around him, he asked a question.

"I know this seems random, but if you need to say anything about me, it might help if you call me Ero-sennin. I'm sure it will get him to smile, at least."

Tossing him a glare and a low growl, Kitsune continued towards the door, yanking it open much like Naruto did, and slamming it behind her, apparently not caring about any others at the inn.

"What? I thought it would be a good idea..." It wasn't until much later that he realized Kitsune showed signs of both worry and agitation. Perhaps there really was more to her than anyone knew.

* * *

_Ten minutes later, copse of trees near the hamlet..._

Kitsune observed the snowflakes as they fell to the ground, tracking Naruto via the imprints his footwear left in the minor accumulation so far. The few humans she had encountered as she followed Naruto's footsteps had shot her odd looks, most likely confused as to how she could walk around out here in the cold without more weather protection.

They didn't know that she was merely residing in a chakra construct that could easily desensitize itself to thinks like temperature, much like her original fox form. She didn't need to do much adjusting, however, as the clones of Naruto were nearly immune to temperature, only detecting extremes. Until the time came where Naruto could form a clone using only her chakra, she would likely be numb to quite a few things that would normally affect others, since his chakra always had to act as the 'shell'.

It wasn't long at all before she came across the blond, sitting still and hunched over on top of a rather large boulder that was easily a meter taller than her current human teenager body. She had to stop and ajust herself mentally for a second, it was disconcerting having to look up at him, even if he was sitting on top of something. When talking to Naruto in his mindscape she was still generally always looking down, and even her adult human form was taller. This was the very first time she had ever looked _up_ at him.

Setting that thought aside, Kitsune didn't bother making any extra noise as she approached, as her feet made enough noise in the snow. Not only that, but their mental connection acted as something of a homing beacon. Naruto had suppressed his chakra to a great degree, but no matter how hard he tried to hide, she would always be able to find him, as could any summon he called upon. It was the one unavoidable similarity between all summoning techniques, that the chakra of the summoner and summoned be linked. As a result, he would be able to feel her approach from a mile away, if he so wished.

The moment she stopped and stood still, Naruto managed to grind out a single word, his strain obvious.

"Why?"

There it was, exactly as she had told the Sa... Ero-Sennin. Calling him such would likely take some getting used to. "Why did I kill your parents? I have an answer for you, but it requires you to listen to a bit of a story. Are you willing?"

She heard him sigh, and felt the stirrings of the human emotion of amusement as he turned a glare on her. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"I can tell you the answer, but you won't appreciate it unless I explain everything. It will also explain why I didn't tell you of this sooner."

The glare slowly withered, and resignation took hold. Nodding slowly, he turned away from her. Walking closer, Kitsune moved around the boulder Naruto was perched on until she stood directly in front of and below him. She continued to simply stand there until he looked directly at her, puzzled blue eyes meeting serious bright red.

"I will begin by telling you that according to your human calendar, I am just over one hundred and sixty three years old."

If Naruto was at all surprised or intruiged by this revelation, he did not show it other than a minor twitch of his eyebrow. The blond continued staring blankly at Kitsune as she resumed her monologue.

"I also have what is referred to as an eidetic memory; that is, I can remember everything I have experienced in perfect clarity, from the first day I existed. Of the nine bijuu, I was the last one created by the Sage of Six Paths, and also the most powerful. I do not know why we were created with such an obvious power gap, but then the Sage of Six Paths did many things I still fail to understand.

"My brethren and I were spread throughout the lands, though within the first thirty years I began hearing tales of the capture of the Ichibi and Nibi. I know that others were somehow captured as well, at the time I did not comprehend how they figured out how to subdue and control us. The first among us, the Ichibi, was always known for being insane, so I believe it could not have been difficult to capture it."

Kitsune held up one of her hands and watched as snowflakes began to slowly melt in the palm of her hand. While shadow clones did not generate heat like a human body would, chakra flow itself generated a small amount of heat. Kitsune's chakra, the pure primal energy of nature, was therefore warmer than a human's by default. Naruto had commented in the past during their spars that some of her impacts felt like they burned, and it only got worse as they figured out how to get more of her chakra into his clones.

"I existed in solitude for nearly one hundred years, every so often mingling with the humans in smaller villages when I needed information. By traveling from place to place over time, I learned much about the children and disciples of the Sage of Six Paths, but most of it was not what you would refer to as _good._ I began to understand human emotions as I interacted with them, and realized that I found myself... loathing your species. It was perhaps the first emotion of humanity that I was able to grasp easily, simply because the examples of it were plentiful."

Kitsune had since looked back up to where Naruto sat on the boulder, occasionally shifting, but granting her his full attention. The last sentence she spoke raised his hackles a bit, however, and he seemed ready to interrupt until Kitsune held a hand up to stop him before he started.

"Let me finish, Naruto! When I'm done, you can ask all the questions and make all the comments that you wish."

The blond's mouth snapped shut, and he glared again, not that it had any effect on Kitsune. Slowly he settled back down and let out a low grumble, but nodded to her nonetheless.

"I am nothing more than an accumulated force of nature, the environment itself is what gives me my power. The Sage of Six Paths realized that this power needed a focus and gave us an intelligence. We were originally one mind, but with all that power even one mind could not control it. So therefore what was once one was split up into nine, of which I was the last, as I said before.

"Knowing that I was created from a part of nature itself, I began to view humanity as nothing more than a virus. Always using and taking more and more, rarely appreciating or giving back. Granted, there are several among your number who are appreciative, but they are a very small minority. Once humans realized that the bijuu, as we were named, could be used as a means to power... things only got worse.

"When the stories became more widespread I gradually separated myself from your human civilization around eighty years ago. I discovered that there was a clan of shinobi, descended from my creator, who had the ability to suppress the chakra of a bijuu. They called themselves the Senju, and it was they who had been assisting in the capture of my fellow brethren."

Recognition immediately clicked in Naruto's eyes as his back went rigid. Kitsune allowed herself a small grin, knowing that Naruto was once again hanging on her every word.

"They had since formed a military alliance with the second clan which descended from the first Sage, the Uchiha. Together they could capture and control any of us, but alone could not do both. We were too powerful for an Uchiha to control us for long, but with our powers suppressed by a Senju, they could control us indefinitely. These abilities combined gave them an unprecedented amount of power at the time, which they used to broker alliances and helped form what you refer to as the Five Great Nations today.

"I did not know it at the time, but found out later that they had originally planned on giving out two each of the bijuu to the other large nations that formed as a way to guarantee balance. The Great Shinobi War had taken many lives, and there were many who didn't want to see another like it. The Uchiha wanted to keep the power to themselves, but the Senju wanted to spread the power as a balancing force. The Senju ideals won in the end, and three of the Great Nations got two of the bijuu.

"As the weakest of the Great Nations, Wind Country only got one. The last went to Fire Country's first declared ally, and strongest minor nation, Waterfall. The other nations knew that they could not use their bijuu against the combined Senju and Uchiha clans, so therefore Fire Country was to be avoided. Not only that, but Fire had agreed to keep me for themselves, if they ever managed to find me."

Kitsune hummed for a moment as she brushed the accumulated snow off of her shoulders and out of her hair. It had started falling faster as she was talking, and the ground had since become completely covered in white where the terrain was flat. There were still patches of green and brown around the trunks of a few of the larger evergreen trees.

"Do you remember the valley I showed you before, and our discussion?

Naruto had started brushing the snow off of himself as well, but stopped to look at Kitsune when she asked the question. "Yeah, why?"

"Because even though Cloud came for me with one of their jinchuuriki, they never would have found me if I hadn't been betrayed by a human I once... I guess I could say... trusted."

Knowing that Naruto would inevitably have questions, Kitsune once again held up a hand and began speaking right away, "His name was Takeru, and he stumbled upon me by chance since he was a hunter. Naturally he was curious about what he thought was a human, alone in a forest. Unfortunately I had just left a village and was still in my older female form that you witnessed earlier, so like most other human males of early age, he became smitten right away. The purpose of that form was to gain information, and I already had all I needed."

Kitsune sighed and closed her eyes, looking up towards the sky, allowing snowflakes to fall on her face. "I would have killed him right then and there and no one would have known, but as a hunter he had a certain appreciation and fondness for nature that I was able to bear witness to. I decided that I would give him a chance to live.

"He attempted to visit me many times after that, but only for a few of those visits did I make my presence known. To this day I don't understand why I did it, but one day I approached him in a smaller fox form to see his reaction. Nothing seemed amiss, at first. But after that day I never saw him again. I did not think much of it at the time.

"About a month after that I felt the presence of the Hachibi and went to investigate. He was forced to attack me but was struggling against his container, apparently they did not get along. I managed to win that fight rather easily as a result, otherwise it would have dragged out much longer. I also understood through the Hachibi's words that I had been sold out, so I knew right away who did it."

Naruto managed to insert a quick question, "Was he there?"

The redhead nodded. "They forced him to come to show them the location where I had been. It was my own fault for not moving away, but I still did not understand the human concept of betrayal. Apparently, I had a bounty in Kumo, and Takeru wanted it."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

Kitsune opened her eyes and looked at Naruto, feeling the melted water from the snow run down her face. She tossed him a grin, "I killed him, along with a large chunk of the Kumo nin. I even ate two of their stronger ones... though they were tougher than even I realized. Something protected them from my own chakra, and I was forced to... regurgitate them."

Naruto looked queasy and somewhat startled, but otherwise chose not to comment. Kitsune stood casually, letting her arms rest at her sides as she looked up at Naruto. He held her gaze for barely a moment before blushing a little and turning away, missing the bijuu's little smirk.

"It wasn't long before they retreated, and I remained where I was, convinced that I had scared off anyone else. Unfortunately I underestimated you humans, something I have been actively taking steps to avoid ever since. The first to come to me after Kumo was none other than Uchiha Madara. I did not know how the Uchiha had managed to control my bretheren before, but it became clear barely moments into our fight, if you could really even call it such.

"He used his Sharingan, and at that moment I knew something was wrong. I had become a slave to my own body. I knew things were happening, but I was not in control, and no matter how much I fought I could not get it back. He immediately set us on a course for Konoha, which took very little time for me going full speed. In a few hours, we had reached the area that is now called the Valley of the End."

Kitsune sighed, looking at her hands once again.

"Senju Hashirama came to meet with Uchiha Madara for whatever reason, at the time I did not know or care, I simply wanted my body returned to my control. They began talking at first, but it did not take long for them to begin fighting. To this very day I do not know why Madara used me, as everything I did was suppressed by Hashirama. Perhaps I was just a distraction for some other plan.

"Regardless of the reason, it would seem that Madara ultimately failed at his self appointed task to attack and destroy Konoha, and I was sealed away for the very first time."

Kitsune did not know what expression was on her face, but facing those memories was something that she did not like in the least, and it must have shown. Naruto must have been completely caught up in her story, as he had quickly moved down from the boulder, and now stood in front of her with a concerned frown.

"W-What was it like?"

Sighing and turning away, Kitsune slowly walked around the clearing, thinking about how to best explain it. "It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Complete darkness, with no concept of time, and no control over a body. I simply... _was_, and _wasn't_ at the same time. There would be moments of light and understanding when my... my _container_," Kitsune nearly spat the word, "...decided to come to me, asking for information. Otherwise, I was alone. It wasn't until later that I knew I had been kept in the dark for close to sixty years."

"I'm sorry."

Kitsune whirled around, at first staring incredulously at her latest container, but then changing it into a mild glare. "What do you have to be sorry for? None of this was your doing. Your desire to offer some fashion of atonement for your predescessor is neither wanted nor needed."

Naruto visibly flinched as if struck, and Kitsune found herself re-examining her words. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, slightly wet hair prickling her cheeks as it swayed back and forth.

"Perhaps that came out wrong. I did not mean to rebuke you in such a manner. However, remembering nothing but constant darkness for such a long period of time is a horrible experience for any being, especially one that can remember every detail of such nothingness."

The blond nodded, his own hair matted down slightly from the snow melting in it. His outfit was getting wet as well, especially along his arms and shoulders. He made no effort to return indoors, however, so Kitsune did not say anything about it.

"So you were sealed in someone else before they sealed you in me, then?"

"I was sealed twice before I was sealed in you. The first time was into a woman named Uzumaki Mito, who was the wife of Senju Hashirama. She was present at the battle, because in case Hashirama failed, she would at least be able to seal me away. She still did the sealing regardless, though I didn't find out until later that she was too old to be able to use a bijuu's power, so she never became a true jinchuuriki. She had to completely separate her chakra from mine, otherwise mine would over stress her chakra coils and slowly kill her inside out.

"That was why as she aged, they had another container prepared for me, one who was much younger and would be able to merge with my chakra and use it. She became the second container, and her name was Uzumaki Kushina."

Naruto gasped and muttered out 'mother', to which Kitsune nodded. She was very well aware that the blond seemed to close himself off to the outside world for a time. She mused about the potential scenario where he retreated to his mindscape like he usually did when troubled, and sometimes talked to her, only to realize that she was in fact already outside.

Deciding he had enough time to ponder the scenario, Kitsune faked clearing her throat and continued talking, "It was much different the second time, as your mother was very close to your father from the first time we met. Your father was brilliant, for a human, and I was able to learn much through the things he told your mother, as I was no longer locked away and once again aware of the outside world.

"Then one day I was listening in on a conversation and realized I had a chance to be free. The seal that contained me was weak during childbirth... namely yours. I knew it was a long shot, but I still had to try. I did not want to be used like a tool any longer."

Naruto's face had been a mixture of emotions as Kitsune talked, obviously happy to hear about his parents, even briefly, but apparently pained when hearing about her imprisonment from this point of view.

"It was on your birthday, however, that Uchiha Madara returned. Somehow he knew when the seal would be at its weakest as well, and used that to his advantage. I am not aware about what happened on the outside, but I do know I felt a chance to be free... only for Madara to appear and take control of me, yet again."

Kitsune began to get angry, thinking about what happened back then. Once again she lost control of her body and most of her mind, being forced to do things against her will. She heard Naruto let out a startled noise, and looked at him, only to see him flinch and take a step backwards. A flicker of dark red in her peripheral made Kitsune look down at her arms, seeing her own reddish chakra dancing about them. Realizing what was happening, she immediately closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. The act worked for calming humans, so she believed that it should work for her as well.

"W-We can... stop talking about this if it's upsetting you." As brave as he tried to sound, Naruto's voice was still wavering.

"No, it's fine. I was just thinking about that day and it began to upset me. I usually try not to think about it, I already spent several years doing... what do you humans call it? Sulking, I think... I did that when I was sealed in you."

"I see." Naruto looked away, nervously scratching the back of his head. "Well, uhm... maybe we should stop for now and get back inside. I'm getting pretty wet and I don't want to catch a cold or anything, so should we go?"

"You want to know why I killed them though, don't you?"

The blond's eyes went wide for a second before he gave her a faint smile, and dropped his gaze to the ground. "Nah, that's okay. I'm sure you had your reasons. Besides, even if I don't have them anymore, I still have you, right?"

Kitsune found herself blinking several times as she stared at the young human... Naruto... in front of her. Even for someone as old as she, he managed to say things that caught her completely off guard. The redhead supposed she should feel some sort of gratitude towards the boy for his opinion of her, even if he was technically her jail cell. Unlike the previous two, at least he had made attempts at giving her some form of freedom.

How generous he would remain after she told him the full story, she didn't know. At worst she would be confined to the cage in his mindscape again for the rest of his life, unless he managed to forgive her. Regardless of the result, it would be best to get everything out now, so there will be no complications later.

"Yes, you do... but I'm still going to tell you why anyway. Your father had somehow defeated Madara or scared him off... I don't know which, but all I can remember is that I was free for a brief moment before your mother made an attempt at keeping me pinned so that I couldn't get away. If she had let me go, I would have simply left... but I never got the chance to.

"She started dying the moment I was removed from her, anyway. My chakra was a part of your mother's chakra system, and without it she would not be able to live much longer. Your father made an attempt to seal me into you, but as you know the only way to seal something is to have an equal or greater amount of chakra than the thing you are sealing has. I knew he had no means to do that, but he went further than I ever expected a human to. He called upon the shinigami to take half of my power and seal it into him right then and there.

"I felt it as soon as I lost a lot of power. I knew that I had perhaps one chance left to be free, and in order to do that, I had to destroy the thing they were going to seal me into. Therefore, I tried to kill you."

Kitsune watched as Naruto's expression changed from shock to anger, and finally to sadness. His mouth had opened and quickly closed several times in a row, as if he wanted to say something, but was unable to find the words.

"Since you and I are both still here now, I think it's obvious that I didn't succeed with that plan. Your parents saved your life, at the cost of their own. They still would have died anyway without me doing anything, but I did hasten their demise. I simply wished to be free."

The two of them stood in silence for a while, neither moving. Kitsune kept her red eyes focused on Naruto, who simply had his fists clenched and was staring a hole in the ground. Noticing his shoulders had an accumulation of snow again, Kitsune glanced at then brushed off her own.

"I don't know if you'll be able to forgive what I did or understand my actions, but regardless of that we should probably head back indoors. It is snowing even more heavily than before, and I agree that the last thing you need to keep you from training is a cold."

Kitsune's footsteps crunched louder in the snow as she started walking back towards the inn. The moment she started to step past Naruto, however, his hand reached out and settled heavily on her shoulder. The redhead stopped, looking curiously at the hand, then backwards over her shoulder to where Naruto still remained.

"Thank you."

Kitsune's eyes opened a slight bit wider as she digested those two words. They likely symbolized that Naruto appreciated something she did, but considering what she had just finished explaining, exactly what the thanks were for was hard to figure out.

"I just told you that I was responsible for the deaths of your parents, and you're thanking me?"

The hand on her shoulder squeezed slightly, and she felt herself holding back a comment to remind him that these clones still weren't all _that_ durable yet.

"No... I don't like that my parents died, or that you tried to kill me. But after hearing how long you were kept alone and then locked away, I think I can understand a little bit. I should be angry that because of you that I never got to know the love of parents like all the-"

"You're wrong."

Naruto's grip slipped off of Kitsune's shoulder as he stared at her in shock, "W-What?"

"About your parents not loving you... I witnessed enough of your mother and father to understand what it means to say one is in love, even if I fail to comprehend _why _one would love another. It probably has to be the most confusing emotion you humans have, yet your parents said it over and over to you as an infant before they died."

Naruto's face adopted an expression that Kitsune found impossible to interpret, but one of his hands quickly moved up to rub at his eyes, and she was fairly certain he started sniffling. Interesting, this was the first time he had cried for a reason other than pain in several years.

It was impossible to miss Naruto's shivering as he rubbed at his eyes, so in a decidedly human gesture, Kitsune moved back towards him and grabbed at his other forearm. Naruto looked surprised until the redhead started dragging him back in the direction of the inn.

"Come. I can see you're cold, and the last thing I need is you complaining about your training while sick."

Both of them trudged through the snow with loud crunching noises, and Kitsune found herself wondering why she felt like grinning when Naruto mumured another thank you.

* * *

_Three months later, Konoha..._

"Whoa! Naruto, is that you? Who's the babe?"

Naruto's head turned to the left, only to see Izumo and Kotetsu grinning at him like the idiots they were. He tossed them a grin and a wave of his own, then held a finger to his lips, gesturing for them to be quiet. Hearing them laugh, he looked over to his right, where Kitsune was walking next to him.

In the last few months since telling him about his parents and her past, Kitsune had gradually become re-acclimated to human civilization. She grumbled about how stupid they were from time to time, but for the most part Naruto found her interactions with most other people amusing. She still continued wearing a wardrobe that was a near copy of his, but had recently decided to start placing her shoulder-length hair in a pony tail, which strangely seemed to make her look even younger.

Like now. She was almost cute, the way she was shooting a mild glare in the direction of the check-in booth. Naruto might have laughed if he didn't know that she was likely the strongest being in existence that he knew of.

"You aren't going to defend poor Kitsune-chan's honor, Naruto?"

The blond in question shrugged as he looked over his shoulder at Jiraiya. "They were just complimenting her, in their own sort of way. Besides if I tried to defend her again she may just haul off and hit me like that time in Tanzaku. I was nursing that bump on my head for days."

Jiraiya guffawed in laughter at the memory, and Naruto tried to avoid having his gaze linger on Kitsune as he faced forward once again. For some reason she was very aggressive when it came to the concepts of pride and honor. That was likely because they were some of the first true feelings that she truly understood humanity's label for.

As they gradually increased their distance from the main gates, Naruto looked around at the various shops on the street they were traveling down towards the central building, towards where the administration building was located. Not much had changed in the last three years, which was both a good and a bad thing. It wouldn't take him long to get familiar again with where everything was, but it would likely make it a bit harder to find things that actually were new.

Spying a large pole up ahead, Naruto gestured towards it, "I'm going to run up that and get a good look around, alright?"

Jiraiya nodded and Kitsune let out a humming noise. Taking this as a sign of approval, Naruto took off at a jog, then adjusted himself and ran up along the side of the large pole. Upon reaching the top, he inhaled a large breath and took a look around. There really wasn't anything noticeable that had changed at all. They had finished fixing up the section of the outer wall which had been destroyed by one of Orochimaru's snake summons. Other than that, they had carved the latest Hokage's face into the mountain, and that seemed to be it.

_"Naruto. Your harpy of a teammate approaches, as does your Hokage."_

_"Hey! Sakura-chan isn't a harpy!"_

_"We shall see if she has changed. I won't hold my breath."_

Naruto looked around below, and sure enough Sakura and Tsunade were walking down the path towards them. They had likely been alerted of the arrival of Jiraiya and his student. There was no extra security either, so Jiraiya had probably mentioned Kitsune to Tsunade at some point in one of his letters. Naruto had a feeling that she was still being watched, just in case.

Hearing voices coming from below him, Naruto looked for a good landing spot between the groups and jumped. Three seconds later he landed in a crouch and heard Sakura gasp his name. Slowly standing up, he turned back around to see Tsunade appraising him as Sakura simply stared at him, mouth slightly agape.

Naruto raised a hand and gave them both a big smile. "Hey Tsunade-baachan! Sakura-chan!"

Tsunade immediately scowled, while Sakura actually blushed a little and smiled. Naruto heard Kitsune mumble something behind him that he didn't quite catch, but it was likely that Jiraiya caught it since the man started laughing lightly.

"Hi, Naruto! Welcome back. We missed you."

"Ah, really?" Naruto grinned and scratched at the back of his neck. "How have you guys been? Anything interesting happen?"

Sakura's eyes lit up and she looked about to say something, but Tsunade beat her to it. "Oh, there has been plenty, but this is not the place to talk about it. Let's go back to my office, we can talk there."

She worded it like a friendly suggestion, but the look on her face spoke otherwise. Sakura looked a little upset about being interrupted, but nevertheless nodded with everyone else and fell into step next to Naruto as they headed towards the administration building.

The walk to the building wasn't a long one, and the two reunited teammates had passed the time with idle chitchat. Naruto mentioned a few of his new skills, while Sakura related some of Tsunade's scary ideas of training. Once they entered the building they encountered Shizune near the entrance, barking out orders to some of the staff. After another round of greetings, they all headed up towards the Hokage's office, steeling themselves for the discussion that was likely to come.

Tsunade looked around her office as she sat down in her chair. Jiraiya had taken up his typical position whenever he visited, half sitting on a window ledge off to one side of the room. Shizune moved up next to the desk, opposite from where Jiraiya was. Naruto, meanwhile, had shifted to stand in front of her desk, with Sakura standing next to him and Kitsune on his other side, about a step back.

Watching the interaction between the two during the walk had been interesting, Sakura was cordial at best towards Kitsune, while the disguised bijuu did a fine job of pretending the other girl didn't exist. Whenever Naruto tried to get them to interact, it was brief at best before Sakura started talking about something else, or Kitsune simply stopped responding. The worst part was the old pervert who was walking next to her; he was listening to the two teenagers and bijuu talking, and she had to put up with his giggles as he was likely thinking about some scenario or another. At least he didn't pull out that notepad of his, otherwise she would have clobbered him.

"Alright, now that we are all here, let me first say... welcome back."

"It's good to be home, baachan!"

Tsunade let that particular comment slide, unable to be upset after having not seen Naruto for nearly three years. She did find it rather amusing watching Sakura lightly hit him on the arm and telling him not to call her that, but then was startled as Kitsune glared at the pink haired girl and let out a low growl. She intervened quickly in order to keep Sakura from potentially escalating matters... the poor girl would have no idea what she was getting into. Tsunade had only told her apprentice that Naruto and Jiraiya had picked up another traveling companion, but not how or who it was.

"Settle down you three. Sakura, if I haven't ever been able to get Naruto to stop calling me that, I doubt you have much of a shot now."

"Ah... sorry, Master."

"It's fine. Now, how should I say this..." Tsunade's voice trailed off as her eyes drifted over to the redhead, who apparently knew it was her turn to be addressed. The Hokage felt a shiver go down her spine as the bright red eyes focused on her. "It is... interesting to meet you, Kyuubi."

Tsunade heard gasps come from Sakura and Shizune, both of whom took an involuntary step backwards. Naruto was frowning as he took in their reactions, but kept his mouth shut. That meant they had likely talked about potential reactions before coming here. The Hokage found herself being pleased with that thought, especially with Naruto who actually didn't voice his opinions right away for a change.

"I could say the same, Hokage. I have no doubt that while I am here I will have many more... interesting acquaintances. We have decided, however, that it would be more prudent if I was called Kitsune, rather than Kyuubi."

"That makes sense." Tsunade shot an amused glance towards her first apprentice, "Surprised, Shizune?"

As if shaking herself from a stupor, Shizune shook herself and then looked towards the blond Hokage. "Tsunade-sama... is it really?"

Getting a serious nod from her Hokage caused Shizune's expression to mellow out, and she looked nervously back at the girl calling herself Kitsune. She introduced herself in a shaking voice, and was surprised when Kitsune actually quirked a smile and let out a small chuckle.

"There is no need for you or anyone here to fear me. Except perhaps the harpy, though I haven't decided her fate, yet."

"Kitsune!"

"What?" Kitsune seemed unperturbed by Naruto's outburst, and merely glanced at him. "You know my thoughts."

Naruto, though not angry, still appeared upset. "We've been over this already!"

"Yes, and my position has not budged, did you forget? A few months of being nice to you does not make up for years of previous ignorance, insults, and ridicule. I may not be human, but even I can understand that."

"But we were still young and... ugh." Naruto rubbed at his forehead, and turned to Sakura, offering her a strained smile. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, Kitsune has gotten really protective of me lately, and I don't think that-"

"Just lately? How long have we been talking? How many of your injuries has my chakra helped heal?"

Naruto turned back to face Kitsune again, putting his hands up in a placating manner. As he began trying to explain himself to the bijuu, Tsunade couldn't help but feeling slightly amused at the interaction. Both Naruto and Kitsune did talk to each other like friends who had known each other for a long time. Sakura, meanwhile, was trying to defend herself from Kitsunes blatant put-downs, no matter how truthful they might be, and keep herself visible to Naruto. For what reason, Tsunade could only begin to guess.

Looking at Jiraiya, the Hokage noted that he was watching the goings on with a small smile of his own. It only took her looking at him to gain his attention, and she asked the unspoken question by raising both her eyebrows and gesturing towards the threesome with her head.

He offered a warmer smile and a shrug, which likely meant this type of byplay was normal, only now Sakura was entered into the equation. Taking the situation at face value, Tsunade turned back to the arguing group, and cleared her throat. All three of them immediately quieted themselves and stared at her, expectantly.

"I'm glad to see the three of you are getting along so well," Tsunade stated dryly. "I do need to get a bit of information, though, mostly in regards to Kitsune. Sakura and Naruto, you are both dismissed... Shizune, take them to meet up with Kakashi, like we planned earlier."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama. Please come with me, you two." Without another word, Shizune started for the door. The Hokage watched as Naruto shared a look with Kitsune before nodding to her, then turning to follow. Sakura did not move until Naruto did, and not before frowning at the bijuu. Once the door closed, the redhead spoke up immediately.

"I can tell the question you have by the look on your face. Yes, Naruto and I can communicate mentally."

Both of Tsunade's eyebrows lifted again for a brief moment before she grinned. "Huh, I bet that's convenient."

"Yes, especially when we talk about Ero-Sennin."

_That_ comment caught Tsunade by complete surprise, to the point where she almost comically fell out of her chair. It took several moments of her staring at the top of her desk to regain her bearings, and then she began to doubt her sanity upon looking up to see a small smile on Kitsune's face.

"What the _hell_ is going on? Jiraiya?"

The Sage chuckled as he scratched at his head. "I told the brat to help Kitsune get used to acting human. I didn't know that he'd teach her how to tell jokes and prank people too."

Tsunade rubbed at her forehead and let out a deep sigh. One Naruto was enough... still... to think that he could teach, or even manipulate a bijuu of all things in such a way...

"Joking aside, I guess I should get started with the serious part of the discussion by asking if there are any large limitations that I should be aware of with how you manage to inhabit a shadow clone. Jiraiya has explained a little about how it works, but just an overall summary from you should work."

Kitsune looked down at the floor for a second before looking back up and staring at Tsunade with her piercing red eyes. "At first it was nothing more than my consciousness inside a shadow clone shell created using Naruto's chakra. Over time we've been adjusting his summoning technique that he created to allow him to summon me with at least some of my chakra. Right now it isn't much, but it's enough for me to maintain a henge for at least a full day. Every time he summons me he manages to pull out a little more of my chakra each time."

"Can he summon you with, say..." Tsunade waved her hand idly as she searched for the right words, "A tails' worth of your chakra?"

"The tails are merely a representation of how powerful each bijuu is in comparison to each other. I have no accurate scale to judge how _much_ power there is per tail. I can tell you that I do not have enough of my own chakra to form a full cloak around this clone, however I can enhance it's capabilities somewhat... such as making it durable enough to spar."

"I see." Tsunade paused for a moment, leaning forward, her elbows perched on her desk as she pressed her fingertips together. "Do you think you are capable of running missions?"

"Hime, you aren't-"

"Quiet, Jiraiya. I wasn't talking to you."

Kitsune's eyes had narrowed as she looked at the Hokage. Her head tilted to the side in a show of curiosity, causing Tsunade to wonder where exactly she had picked up that trait from. "I would say it depends on the kind of mission. The village still follows the standard D through S assignments, I presume?"

Tsunade simply nodded.

"I see. I should be able to accomplish D Rank missions with no difficulty, much like any newly minted Genin would. Likewise for C Ranks, so long as we don't face other shinobi. Facing a competent enemy shinobi or kunoichi, I likely wouldn't be more than a distraction at best. That likely places anything B Ranked or above out of the question, at least until the summoning seal is improved or changed to allow me the use of more of my chakra."

"Very well. If you're ever in need of something to do, come see me about an assigment. Next time you use the henge, give yourself a headband."

"I do not see why you want to do this... but very well."

The Hokage leaned back in her chair, grinning. "I have a couple reasons. First, knowledge of your presence is limited. If it ever gets out, I'll be able to prove that you have in fact been helping the village since you got here. Besides that, it will also give you an income of your own... not that I know what you'd use money for, but think of it as a buffer for Naruto, should you come up with no other ideas.

"My second reason relates to your travels and experiences. It's been made clear in Jiraiya's writings to me that you have limited experience in regards to interaction with humans. Taking low ranked missions will let you do things on your own for a bit."

Tsunade leaned forward again, staring at Kitsune with a serious expression. The bijuu stared back, unflinchingly. "As for the why... I trust Naruto. That's it. Naruto trusts you, therefore my trust will extend to you as well. The more you do to help him and us, the better your defense gets should any... issues... arise."

Kitsune nodded, "I understand. Is there anything else?"

"No, that's it, unless you have any other questions."

"I have none at this time. What about you, Sage?"

Jiraiya looked a little startled as the attention in the room suddenly shifted to him. "W-What? What about me?"

"You've looked like you wanted to say something for a while now."

The hermit shrugged and waved off the comment. "I had no idea Tsunade-hime was going to do what she did... it caught me a little off guard, that's all. But her plan has merit, so I'm fine."

Tsunade looked cross for a moment, grumbling out a 'Of course it does.', which got a chuckle from Jiraiya.

"Very well. I will be with Naruto, he's telling me that he has a test coming up."

Jiraiya looked from Kitsune to Tsunade, "A test?"

The blond nodded. "Yes, it's to test his potential, alongside Sakura. They will be working with Kakashi in the future, and I wanted him to examine their teamwork. It will likely be starting soon, so we should get moving if we don't want to miss it."

A burst of smoke was all that was left of Kitsune as she dispelled when Tsunade finished speaking, leaving the Hokage to stare blankly at Jiraiya, who was opening a nearby window.

"She returns to the seal, just like that?"

Jiraiya grinned, "Yep! Just like that."

"Hm. Convenient. The next few months should prove to be interesting."

"I'll say. Hey, what abo- whoa, whoa! What are you doing Hime?"

Jiraiya had to quickly move his hands as the window he was opening quickly slammed shut, rattling the glass and nearly severing a few of his fingers. Tsunade simply glared at him, brow twitching as she pointed to the door. "I still need to talk to you. I am not leaving through the window. Understood?"

The white haired man held up his hands in a surrenduring gesture as he slowly backpedaled towards the door, Tsunade stalking after him. "O-Of course Hime! Anything for you!"

"Hm. Damn right. Lets go."

* * *

_Nine days later, after rescuing the Godaime Kazekage Gaara..._

"I thought I might find you up here. Is there a reason why you have been avoiding me?"

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Kitsune, who was still standing a couple meters back from where he sat on top of the Yondaime's head. "I've been avoiding everyone. I just needed to think for a bit on my own. Besides, you always know where I am anyway, in case you really needed to find me."

Kitsune hummed for a moment, then took a few steps forward to stand next to him. "Thinking about the situation with the Ichibi's Jinchuuriki?"

"Gaara."

Kitsune glanced down at the teen. "What was that?"

"His name is Gaara. Not _Ichibi's Jinchuuriki_." Naruto repeated what Kitsune called Gaara in a sarcastic tone which was not at all lost on the bijuu.

"Very well. While you see the human for what he is, when I look at him I cannot help but see another bijuu like myself. But I will call him Gaara from now on, since he is in fact no longer a container."

Naruto went rigid for a moment before settling back down, something that Kitsune watched with idle curiosity. He was doing one of those human things that could be so irritating, by closing himself off so he could attempt to deal with whatever issues he had on his own. Unfortunately, that typically made him a pain to deal with for days at a time.

"I do not understand why you are acting this way. He is alive now, is he not?"

Naruto let out a sigh. "Yeah, but he was dead. I thought I'd never see him again. It wasn't fair, after all he'd been through, and finally being recognized... to just have Akatsuki take it all away because he contained something that was put in him before he was even born. If it wasn't for Granny Chiyo..."

Naruto trailed off, and for once Kitsune found herself without anything to say. Something caused Naruto to form a strong connection with the other jinchuuriki, and it was likely because they were treated the same when they were younger; with fear, ignorance, and disdain. This current episode of his might go on for a while, and there was one way to get him out of a funk this serious that she had learned over time. "Would you like to go get some ramen?"

Naruto quickly looked up at Kitsune, incredulous. "W-What? But you don't need to eat..."

Kitsune shrugged, looking back out over the village. "True. But I can still taste the food, and I have to admit it does not taste as bad as I had imagined. If you wish, when we go, you can... call it one of those date things." Kitsune waved one of her hands in a circle before finishing her sentence, consciously using the human mannerism to display indifference.

Naruto stared at Kitsune open mouthed for barely a moment before frowning, "You don't even know what a date really means, do you?"

"I _do_ know what the word means, but I _do not_ understand the purpose behind it. Why give a name to something that you can do with another human at any time? You used to go with the harp- Haruno when it was as a member of a team after your graduation, but she would not go with you when you asked her to go as a _date_."

"She'd go with me now if I asked," the blond attempted to state matter-of-factly, though his expression gave a different opinion... one of uncertainty.

"Perhaps. But what would be the point? From what you and I know of her, she might say yes, but would likely add some sort of catch to it. Unlike her, at least your mother was straightforward when dealing with your father." The last sentence was only mumbled by Kitsune, which caused Naruto to grin slightly. Even if she didn't really intend to cheer him up, just being here and talking to him was making him feel better already.

"You're probably right. Besides, I told her that I would not ask her on dates anymore. Since I graduated, I haven't gone back on my word once, and I don't plan on starting now."

The blond looked up at Kitsune again, who was looking back at him now with a small smile... he couldn't tell, but she looked either happy or proud. It disappeared shortly after he looked up at her, however, and she spoke again before he could ask what she was thinking.

"Good for you. Now, do you want that ramen or not?"

Naruto chuckled as he rose to his feet, "I guess, but I don't have my money on me, so we have to stop by my apartment."

"_Our_ apartment. Also, I offered, so I will pay."

"Our apar- Wait... you'll pay? How? You're just in a clone!" Naruto's incredulity was completely obvious, both via the tone of his voice and his expression.

Kitsune nodded. "I know. But my chakra can regenerate itself naturally while I'm in your clone, as I have discovered. I cannot increase the amount I have, but it can be restored to the original amount you put in it. Haven't you thought it odd that you haven't had to re-summon me?"

The blond's eyes remained wide at first, and slowly narrowed as he spoke, "Now that you mention it, yeah... it has been a few days. I... well, I haven't really been thinking about much other than... you know."

"I know very well, especially since I've been trying to tell you about it and you have been going out of your way to avoid everyone, myself included. I was willing to indulge your desire for a little while, but it has quickly grown old."

"Sorry," Naruto murmured, finally letting his eyes fall closed as his posture slumped.

This time Kitsune sighed, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter any longer. If it became a large problem I would have dispelled and done my best to give you cramps."

"You can do that?"

Kitsune turned to see Naruto looking a little pale. "I do not know. I have never tried. Your mother used to complain about cramps once a month or so and would sometimes blame me for them, so I thought it was perhaps an unintentional side effect of my chakra going through her system. It was something I noticed, but never really paid much attention to."

Naruto quickly looked away from Kitsune, muttering, "No, I don't think it was your chakra. That is something that all girls... and, err... women, have to deal with once they hit a certain age. At least that's what Ero-Sennin said. He's usually pretty accurate when it comes to things about them."

"Hmm." Kitsune hummed for a moment before returning to their previous conversation, "As for me paying for the ramen we are going to get, it was something I discussed briefly with your Hokage. While I am not an official shinobi of this village, I am still fully capable of acting as such. I have at least all of your capabilities, plus my own, not that I would need to use them here. She has however allowed me to do some of your village's D Rank missions so that I may understand things better."

Naruto had since looked back at Kitsune again, not quite believing what he was hearing her say. "But... when did all this happen? You didn't tell me."

Kitsune's face went strangely blank as she looked back at him. "What were we just talking about? Who was the one who was avoiding everyone?"

"Oh. Yeah..." Naruto's embarrassment was obvious, if the tone of his voice and slight flush of his cheeks was any indication.

As they finally began making their way down the monument wall, Naruto began to think a little more about Kitsune's situation with his clones. "So how long do you think you can stay in that clone then?"

Kitsune just shrugged. "This is an entirely new situation for me, so I cannot say. I can remain in this form indefinitely, because my chakra is regenerating faster than I'm using it to maintain this henge. Your chakra, however, which acts as the shell of this clone; it will eventually run out and I will likely be dispelled against my will when that time comes."

"So then the more chakra I put into the clone, the longer it will last?"

"That seems to be the most likely scenario," Kitsune nodded. "Though I cannot say if my chakra erodes yours while in this clone, at least not yet. I have not remained in the clone for very long after using my chakra when we've sparred previously."

Naruto thought about it for a moment before tossing out a suggestion, "Should I make you a new one now, so we can test it?"

"That is not necessary. We can wait until you wish to spar again. I admit I am curious to see how much longer this one might last."

They continued in silence until they reached the bottom of the wall, then started a casual walk towards Naruto's favorite place to dine in the village, Ichiraku Ramen. As they walked by other people, Naruto chuckled internally how some people seemed to be giving him curious looks, as if they were trying to remember something about him - either who he was or who he might have been related to. Most people had been doing double-takes, as he was no longer wearing his orange outfit... it was widely considered to be his defining characteristic before he left on his training trip.

The other glances were sent to his companion... many of which were wide-eyed, some with accompanying blushes or jealous scowls. A lot of the looks would change when they noticed that the two of them were walking together, and were wearing nearly identical outfits. Most of them were surprise, with a few grins and other more discreet displays. If Jiraiya were around, he'd be having a field day.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle and toss Kitsune a brief smirk. "It seems you have a few... admirers."

"I'm used to it, you know I've traveled through human villages before. The attention wouldn't last if they knew who I was."

"You never know. If they know you didn't attack the village under your own control, I'm sure a lot of them would think differently, or at least give you a second chance."

Kitsune snorted. "If that is what you believe, so be it. You know my opinion."

"Do you really hate us all that much?" Naruto spoke quietly, but he knew Kitsune heard him the moment she stopped walking alongside him. Her sudden stop caught him slightly off guard, causing the blond to trip over his own feet as he tried to turn around and keep walking at the same time. He started to chortle lightly, slowly stopping as he saw her staring at him seriously with her bright red eyes.

When she continued to maintain her silence, Naruto's somewhat curious stare turned morphed into a frowning one. Right after the change, Kitsune closed her eyes and sighed, and let her head tilt forward until she could have been staring at the ground if her eyes were open.

"The simple answer is that no, I do not hate all humans. I'm finding myself feeling neutral towards more and more of them as time goes by. My initial impression was colored by the Sage of Six Paths, who instructed us bijuu to avoid humans as best we could. I'm sure you understand why by now."

Naruto nodded solemnly as Kitsune raised her head to look at him, eyes open again. "I've never interacted with humanity on this scale before. Previously I would avoid them at all times unless I traveled through a village to get information about what was going on in the world. From an outside perspective, there didn't seem to be any redeeming qualities about any humans I met. I've kept that mindset for my entire life.

"Then... you freed me. Just like that, everything I had believed before was shattered, and you have caused me to begin examining humankind more closely. I have come to understand after much consideration that yes, there are humans out there that are just as I believed all of humanity was like, but there are other humans who do not fit into any pre-defined mold that I had imagined in my life before now."

Kitsune continued staring straight at Naruto, who simply stared right back. "Does this answer your question?"

The blond nodded slowly. "So that means you actually do like it when I summon you?"

"Like it? As in appreciate it and want it to happen more? I would have to say... yes."

"You didn't seem to want me to at first."

"I've already explained that when you first started doing it I had none of my own chakra. It was even worse than being behind that blasted cage. But once you found a way to bring some of my chakra with me, I began to... to..." Kitsunes mouth opened and closed a few times, as if searching for the appropriate word, "Anticipate it. I looked forward to being summoned. I still do. Does that... make sense? It is a foreign concept to me, as the only other time I believe I ever looked forward to something was when I had a small chance to escape your mother."

"Yeah, it makes sense. I'm glad you're happy." Naruto had one of his big grins on display, with one hand behind his head. He purposefully ignored the comment about his mother, his parents were still a bit of a touchy subject between them, even after all this time. It was done and over with, he just didn't want to think about it if he didn't need to.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" Naruto stopped grinning, only to stare in shock as Kitsune leaned forward slightly in a small bow towards him. While the words used stopped most of his motor functions, the fact that the most powerful of the bijuu was actually bowing to him nearly put him in cardiac arrest. It wasn't exactly something that was easy for Naruto to wrap his head around – at all.

"It is the first time I have ever said those words. It is also the first time that I can claim I have ever been able to recognize what this feeling you call 'happiness' is. I was fully expecting to live behind that cage until I was two hundred years old... or even older. You managed to stop that from happening and are still trying to make my situation even better, so I thank you."

Naruto's mouth was agape and he had clearly started blushing, not used to any sort of praise from Kitsune ever since he had known her. It took everything he had to force words out of his mouth, "You helped me out all the time when I was younger, and you still do. It... it was the least I could do."

"Be that as it may, you are the only one who has bothered to make an attempt with any of the bijuu, to the best of my knowledge. Perhaps... perhaps we could try to pass it along to my other brethren, if possible? They might be behind different kinds of containment seals, but the technique itself should still work with a few adjustments."

The blond looked carefully at his companion. It was odd, he had never really seen Kitsune appear so eager for something before. Her eyes were wide and she was even leaning forward a bit. A part of Naruto was wondering if Kitsune even realized just how human she looked right now.

"I can ask Ero-Sennin to see if he has any contacts that know the locations of other Jinchuuriki, I guess? It would be a start..."

"Yes! Good idea!" Kitsune seemed strangely enthusiastic, leaving Naruto stunned. His once again slack-jawed expression must have snapped Kitsune back to her usual self, since the redhead almost immediately mellowed out and folded her arms over her chest, looking away.

"What an odd feeling. It seems once I understand the meaning behind an emotion, I can express it without even consciously trying. I will have to think about that. But first... I still owe you that ramen. Come with me, and close your mouth - unless you're trying to catch insects in it."

Naruto was only vaguely aware of his mouth clicking shut as Kitsune grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards Ichiraku. This was scary... Kitsune was quickly starting to turn into another Sakura.

* * *

_Five days later, Heaven and Earth Bridge..._

"It's Orochimaru!"

Naruto tensed, noticing the new figure appearing from the other side of the bridge just as Sakura hissed out the all too familiar name. They had come here based on some information that a now-deceased member of Akatsuki named Sasori had given them. After returning from rescuing Gaara, Sakura had reported that the man she fought had given her a meeting location for one of his spies, who would likely have information that Konoha would be very interested in obtaining. When Sakura asked why he was telling her this, he simply stated that it was a gift for defeating him. The information was relative to an old thorn in his side, but Konoha would likely benefit if they acted on it as well.

Their new squad leader, Yamato, had gone out disguised as Sasori to meet with this spy. Naruto and Sakura both tensed in their hiding place when Kabuto revealed himself; both believed that with Kabuto around, his master was not far away.

Unfortunately for them, they were right..

"Argh!" Naruto's fists clenched and released rapidly as he looked over the bush they were positioned behind, "Should we ignore waiting for the signal and go back up Yamato-taichou?"

Sakura shook her head, a grimace on her face. "No, we wait. I don't like it either, but he may still get away..."

The girl spoke too soon however, as Kabuto made a show of protecting Yamato, only to turn and destroy the disguise shortly thereafter. It was barely another few seconds before Yamato was motioning for them to come out from hiding.

The two of them plus their newest member, Sai, all sprung from their spot, landing in front of Yamato. Surprise was written all over Kabuto's face, while Orochimaru appeared to be more amused than anything else - if his small chuckles were any indication.

"My my, isn't this such a nice surprise, Kabuto? I think our good friends from the Leaf must have finished off my old partner since they are meeting us here disguised as him."

"Hm. I guess the Leaf is good for something after all, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto's voice was dripping with sarcasm, and a grin slowly appeared as he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

"Indeed... I must say, I'm surprised to see you here Naruto-kun. Dearest Tsunade doesn't keep you on a leash like other villages do with their Jinchuuriki?"

Naruto visibly flinched and glared at the word Orochimaru decided to use, "Baachan knows better than to do that."

"I see. Well, good for you, I guess?" Orochimaru paused for a moment, his eyes wandering behind the trio to the man standing behind them. "I see they are making use of my other gift as well."

Naruto and Sakura shared a confused glance at that, then looked at Sai, who simply looked back at them with his typically expressionless face. They didn't get a chance to say anything of their own as Kabuto asked the question in their stead, "What do you mean, Orochimaru-sama?"

The snake summoner chuckled again, then casually pointed towards Yamato. "My little Mokuton experiment, standing there in the back. I was trying to recreate the bloodline of the Shodai Hokage, but I had believed all of my experiments were failures. It would seem that one of them made it, however. How fortunate."

Naruto, Sai, and Sakura all looked over their shoulders at Yamato, who simply gave them a brief nod, his expression unusually grave compared to anything they had seen before.

Several moments passed where no one said anything further, until Orochimaru spoke again, amused as always.

"Well, it would seem we are at an impasse. I was fully expecting one of you to start screaming about how you would be trying to get Sasuke-kun away from me."

Naruto was going to retort, only to be stopped by Sakura's dark chuckle. He looked over at her, slightly surprised.

"Sasuke-kun will do whatever he wants. If it wasn't for Naruto, he wouldn't be with you now anyway."

Orochimaru's eyes immediately narrowed. "Explain."

Sakura jerked a thumb towards her blond teammate, "Naruto beat Sasuke-kun at the Valley of the End when they fought. He could have brought Sasuke-kun back if he wanted to, but he let him go for reasons that I agree with. Kakashi-sensei was there too, and agreed as well. If we really cared _that_ much about him being with you, he wouldn't be."

It was hard to read Orochimaru's expression, but he didn't look pleased - though he didn't look angry either. "Very interesting. Sasuke-kun neglected to mention that little tidbit when he found me. Perhaps I should increase the level of his training. Though if Naruto-kun was able to beat him those years ago..."

Orochimaru's snake-eyes focused on the blond of the group, and Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine. "I would assume that you have gotten even stronger since then, especially if it's true that you were running about and training with Jiraiya for several years. I'm _very_ curious to see your strength. What do you say, think you can take me on?"

Naruto frowned slightly. "I already know I can't beat Ero-Sennin or Tsunade-baachan, so I doubt I could beat you. But..."

The blond began to smile, then slowly began to draw upon Kitsune's chakra. "I am curious as to just how far I can go."

Naruto heard Orochimaru begin to laugh again, while both Sakura and Yamato began calling his name. Kabuto was staring at him curiously... as was Sai, though he could only begin to guess what was going through the other boys head.

**"What are you doing? You can't handle the amount of chakra you'd need from me to be able to take him down!"** Kitsune's voice rang clearly through his head, making him wince. This was yet another workaround they had found regarding the Shiki Fuujin. Previously Kitsune would have to be summoned in order for them to communicate mentally, but now he could 'summon' her awareness into his body if she was willing to leave her chakra behind the seal. It essentially let her be aware of everything that was happening in real time, though she could do nothing other than talk to him.

_"I know. I'm not trying to take him down... I just want to see how far I can go. It's been a while since I've attempted."_

**"Tch... whatever. Just don't lose your mind to my chakra."**

_"I'll try to keep it down to four tails. Any more than that and I can't say I'll keep control."_

Kitsune didn't respond, as she likely moved her awareness back behind the seal to control her own chakra. He immediately turned to stare at Sakura, who was giving him a worried look. Kitsune's chakra had already begun whipping around him, and without looking over his shoulder he knew that he had already pulled upon at least three tails worth. A fourth tail was not far behind, as he could feel the wild chakra pushing down upon his consciousness. It wanted him to give it a directive and then let it take over, which was exactly what had happened the last time he had done this with Jiraiya.

"Sakura-chan... you and the others should get back. I'm going to try to keep control, but it will be very dangerous for you to be here."

"What? But Naruto, this is dangerous! I can back you up! You'll need-"

"Sakura!"

The girl flinched back as Naruto shouted her name, then immediately grunted and rubbed at his forehead. "Please, Sakura-chan, just go. It's hard enough for me to maintain this state without losing control. If something happened to you... to any of you... I would lose control, and put everyone else at risk. Please."

Even though she was frowning and her fists were clenched, the pink haired girl took a step forward again and stared at him seriously. "Good luck, Naruto."

"Thanks. Hopefully I won't need it."

As soon as their exchange was done, she took off back towards the end of the bridge where they had arrived, Sai and Yamato both looking back at him but following her shortly thereafter.

"Kabuto... perhaps you should depart as well. I don't need my best agent to be put at risk needlessly."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto disappeared in a flash, and Naruto didn't pay attention or really care where the spy went.

"So Naruto-kun, how do you want to start th-"

Naruto already knew what the man was likely going to finish saying before he did, and quickly took the initiative, literally flying across the short length of bridge that separated them and smashed a chakra-laden fist into the snake summoner's face. The blow was more than enough to send the pale-skinned man flying off into the distance. His first objective was to get Orochimaru away from everyone else - and now that task was complete. Taking a deep breath, he finally allowed the fourth tail of Kitsune's chakra to settle upon him.

The blond grunted and held his head in his hands for a moment, the chakra was powerful and even at this stage he could barely keep his wits about him. Naruto was calm, but Kitsune's chakra was anything but. The pressure was weighing down on him so much that he noticed his feet were leaving indents on the bridge. At the same time, however, the chakra caused an odd dichotomy; the added weight in general made it harder to move, yet once he actually was able to focus on the simple action of movement, the very same chakra reinforced his muscles and made any movement much easier. The wild chakra did anything he wanted, so long as he was able to maintain his wits.

Realizing that he still had to go after Orochimaru, lest the man come back here, he quickly tore through the forest, kicking up all manner of debris in his wake. The best chance he would have at winning this match was taking his opponent out early, even if it did seem to be an impossible task. This would likely be his only chance to test and see how strong he was when compared to people of Orochimaru's caliber. Sparring Tsunade and Jiraiya was fun, sure... but they would pull punches. Orochimaru definitely wouldn't.

Upon reaching a small clearing that had been created courtesy of the snake summoner smashing through everything in the area, the blond came to an abrupt stop and looked around. Orochimaru was sitting patiently on the trunk of one of the larger trees in the area, smiling at him.

"That wasn't very nice, Naruto-kun. I hadn't finished talking. But since you're so eager, I won't hold back either."

Immediately two of the felled trees next to him burst into smoke, only to be replaced by snakes. They both opened their mouths wide and went for him, only to be stopped short as red hands of chakra reached out from the cloak surrounding him, grabbed the snakes, and squeezed. Two more bursts of smoke later, and the snakes had dispelled.

"It is impressive for you to have come so far at such a young age. But I believe you can't go further yet, otherwise you probably would have. Am I right?"

Naruto had to forcibly hold his agressiveness in check, he knew Orochimaru was goading him on, and with enough pushes like this he would lose control of Kitsune's chakra.

"Hmm... I must be. It's amusing to watch your face go through so many different expressions as you try to control that chakra. I've never had the opportunity to experiment with a jinchuuriki before since they are always so well guarded, but I cannot imagine a bijuu being easy to control."

"I don't control anything! I work together with my bijuu! I've been training, but... but-ugh..."

Naruto collapsed forwards, feeling the chakra starting to overwhelm him. There were so many things about Orochimaru that just plain pissed him off, and it was even worse because he _knew_ what the man was trying to do. Yet he still fell for it. Naruto's vision started turning red, then black around the edges as Kitsune's volatile chakra quickly utilized his anger at the snake and despair over losing control to take over... to do what he couldn't.

* * *

_Mindscape..._

Naruto snapped awake, sitting up quickly. He didn't remember laying down... but realized what was going on as he looked around. Somehow he had been forced into his mind, Kitsune's cage was directly facing him.

"Ugh... what's going on?"

An all too familiar rumbling noise filled the room, though it definitely didn't sound as deep as it used to. He was going to ask more, until he noticed that the red chakra was floating around the room, on top of the water-like substance. Either that, or the substance had become the chakra. It was hard to tell. The only thing he knew is that it was slowly climbing up his body.

Jumping to his feet and letting out a yelp, he tried to forcefully wipe if off, but the chakra only stuck to him and proceeded to spread from his hands now.

"Kitsune? What's... what's going on? What is your chakra doing?"

**"You pulled upon too much. I warned that you weren't ready for this. Now it will follow your desires before you arrived here."**

Naruto vaugely noted that the voice, while still deep, definitely had a feminine sound to it, compared to previously. Unfortunately he didn't get time to consider it further as the chakra began rapidly expanding on his body.

"But can't it be stopped?" Naruto was thrashing about wildly, but the chakra was almost covering him completely now, and quickly moving up his chest and neck.

**"No. It cannot."**

"Why? Kitsune? Kitsune!" With a splashing noise, Naruto's body fell backwards as he succumbed to unonsciousness.

* * *

_Unknown..._

The blond groaned as he slowly became aware again. His entire body felt like it was on fire, and it didn't take long for him to remember why. If he was becoming aware again, that meant the chakra he had foolishly pulled upon had likely run its course.

Suddenly there was a cool feeling that began in his chest and gradually started to work its way over the rest of his body, removing the burning sensation. Getting curious, he started to lean forward and open his eyes, only for a warm hand to press over his eyes and pull his head back down. Only then did he notice that his head was slightly elevated.

"Wh-wha-" Naruto tried to talk, only to let out a series of hacking coughs. His throat was very dry, but considering the way the rest of his body felt he wasn't surprised. After a moment of consideration he realized that he was in his mindscape still, he couldn't hear or smell anything that would symbolize actually being awake.

"Be silent and wait, Naruto. You are being healed. Let your teammate finish, and do not talk until it is done."

The surprise got Naruto to be silent more than anything else. He hadn't given any thought to _who_ the hand had belonged to. The voice was definitely Kitsune's though, somehow she managed to get in her human form outside of the cage; unless he was for some reason inside of it... not being able to see or talk kept him from knowing.

Since he was still in his mind, though, that meant on the outside Sakura was healing him, which meant she was still alright. That was good news. Hopefully he won the fight.

The cool sensation had spread through pretty much all of his body by now, getting rid of what he assumed were burns from using Kitsune's chakra. Once it was done, Kitsune lifted her hand, and he was finally able to open his eyes, only to see her leaning forward over him, a strange expression of concern on her features. Her bright red eyes were looking over him curiously, and he couldn't really remember ever seeing her like this.

"How are you feeling?"

The question surprised him, mostly because he'd never heard it before. Usually she just scoffed at him or talked about his injuries as if they were nothing.

"Much better than I was a minute ago. You said Sakura-chan was...?"

"Healing you, yes. She foolishly tried to intervene in the fight when you got knocked back across the bridge, but I managed to keep my chakra from harming her. Barely."

Naruto's eyes closed and he let out a sigh. "Thanks. I was too weak, again."

Kitsune eyed him over another time before shaking her head and replying, "You just don't have enough experience in using my chakra. We will need to find a way to enable you to practice without alerting everyone within miles. Other than that, you'll need to learn to accept who you are before you can fully master using my chakra."

"Accept... who I am? What do you mean?"

"All of those human emotions and feelings you suppress. You may not realize it, but I can hear your true desires in some situations, like I did when you went to fight Orochimaru. You wanted to kill him, even if you were just telling yourself it was just to test your own strength."

Kitsune let out a small sigh before continuing, "Until you understand and accept the way you feel about yourself and your life, my chakra will always be conflicted within you. I'm sure you've noticed how well it works when you get angry-"

"Yeah, I've been trying to stop that."

"Well don't. There is a difference between controlling your anger and letting your anger control you. I'm sure you know which one has been happening more often."

Naruto grunted as he braced his arms on the ground, then slowly pushed himself forward. He opened his eyes as he sat up, turning slightly to look at Kitsune. She was kneeling on the ground, and he felt a butterfly sensation in his gut upon realizing that his head had been resting on her lap. The moment he turned around more fully, she nodded at him, then began fading from view.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Back behind the cage. Your awareness is returning so I can no longer manipulate the seal to any degree. I could only bring my awareness out here, but all my chakra is still behind the cage. I simply used your chakra to create this form."

Naruto was surprised, the emotion coloring his voice. "You can use my chakra?"

"Only to a limited extent." Kitsune's human image disappeared, and the voice resumed after a small break, once again louder and deeper throughout the entire area, though Naruto could still clearly hear Kitsune's human voice mixed in. **"I know my own chakra can not go beyond the seal, but I did not know if my awareness could without you coherent enough to summon me. I found out that I could draw upon a small amount of your chakra to give myself a clone of sorts here in your mind. Apparently your subconsious would allow me to while you were unconscious, but once you began to awaken, my hold on your chakra began to slip away, until I lost it."**

"I could try to give it back!" Naruto had since moved to his feet, and was stumbling towards the large bars.

Kitsune chuckled, though it didn't sound nearly as menacing as it used to. **"Let's stick to doing one thing at a time, shall we? We'll continue work on modifying the summons, and training you to use my chakra as well. For now, however, you should try to wake up soon. I believe your team may be getting ready to take desperate measures."**

Naruto stopped moving and looked up, peering through the bars, though not seeing anything behind them. Letting out another sigh, he nodded slowly and concentrated. "Right, we'll talk more later."

As the blond flickered from existence, Kitsune chuckled again. **"Indeed. I'll be waiting."**

**

* * *

**_Five weeks later, newly created training area just outside Konoha's walls..._

Naruto fell backward onto the soft grass, exhausted and dripping wet from head to toe. As he closed his eyes and calmed his breathing, someone stood in such a way to block the sun from his face. Curious, he opened his eyes again to see Kitsune looking down towards him before she tossed a towel over his head.

"Hey!"

"You should dry off a bit, that water was not warm."

"It wasn't that bad. Sheesh." Following directions anyway, the boy sat up and proceeded to dry himself off. Wiping down his exposed upper body first, he placed the towel over his head to rub his hair, but paused first when he noticed Kitsune staring at him still.

"What?"

Kitsune's eyes narrowed, and she offered a barely perceptible shrug. "I was looking at you and trying to understand what a female human would find to be desireable about a male."

Naruto felt a blush rising to his face. Kitsune was checking him out? It was flattering, if not a little... strange, coming from her. He tried to say something but ended up stuttering out nothing discernable, though Kitsune ignored it and continued talking anyway.

"I understand a small amount, considering what I learned through watching your mother - though she was already focused on your father before I was sealed in her, so it is still difficult for me to interpret what other females look for. But with so many human pairs that I have seen in this village alone, it is not that difficult a process, is it?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, only for a giggling noise to interrupt him. Both he and Kitsune turned to look at Kakashi, who was leaning against a nearby tree stump, orange book in hand. Yamato was sitting nearby on the ground as well, eyes closed in a meditative posture.

Kakashi had easily accepted Kitsune's presence, much to his relief. Thinking back, however, he recalled that his sensei was one of the most laid back people around... when not being attacked or threatened, anyway. His reaction shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.

Yamato was a new team leader to Naruto, and the blond had purposefully not told the man about Kitsune being able to appear in the shadow clone until after they got back from meeting Orochimaru and Kabuto. It wasn't because he didn't trust the man, but it was more because he didn't quite trust their other new team member - Sai. He also thought that Tsunade might have mentioned it since he would be leading their team in Kakashi's absence, but Yamato's reaction upon their return when they met was very amusing to both Naruto and Sakura. They had both burst out laughing when their captain simply pointed and stared, open mouthed and shaking, not saying a word. Kitsune, meanwhile, simply returned the stare with an eye roll followed by a very small smile, perhaps amused or exasperated in her own unique way.

As for Sai... both Naruto and Sakura had a feeling that Yamato knew something about the boy, but he wasn't telling them, and insisted that they ask the Hokage if they really wanted to know. He had apparently gone to investigate the fight between Naruto and Orochimaru - against Yamato's orders to remain where they were and on standby - and Sakura believed he had gotten caught up in one of the large blasts that filled the area. Their captain had hinted that Sai was not dead, and had a wood clone following the teen, but other than that did not elaborate. He offered them the option of going after the boy, and Naruto was planning to accept.

Sakura, however, quickly intervened, saying that getting Naruto back to Konoha to make sure there were no side effects after what happened took precedence. The blond wanted to argue, but she stopped him, saying that it was her duty as a medic nin to make sure he was in good health, and that she'd rather take care of an injured friend and teammate and make sure he was okay, rather than go try and hunt one down that went against Yamato's explicit orders to stand down. Their captain almost immediately agreed with her, and they returned to the village, their newest teammate's whereabouts unknown.

A light bonk on his head made him flinch, and he craned his head to look up at Kitsune as she gave him a slight glare.

"You used to complain that I didn't talk enough, yet now that I do talk you have decided to ignore me?"

The blond paled, "What? No! I'm sorry, I just... I was just thinking back about the bridge, and we don't know what happened to Sai still."

Kitsune stared at him for a moment, then offered another one of her imperceptible shrugs. "So? He understood even less about emotions than I did. Neither of us like him. At all. We've discussed this."

"I know, I know... it's just... oh, nevermind. What were you saying before?"

Kitsune growled before answering, "I was asking if it was truly a difficult process for humans to find a partner, considering how many of them I've seen in this village alone."

"A partner? You mean like on a team?"

"No. A companion, or a... mate."

Naruto was stunned once again, but managed to keep his face impassive somehow. This was probably one of the very last conversations he ever expected to have with the bijuu, as she had always previously displayed nothing more than a passing interest in any humans, with few exceptions.

"It... can be hard sometimes. I know there are some that are part of clans so they don't get a choice, or sometimes they can be required to have more than one, uh... mate. But for everyone else, it usually happens where you are with or around someone for a long time and just start liking them more and more."

"You weren't with Haruno for very long before you started chasing after her."

That comment brought Naruto up short, remembering back to when he used to constantly nag Sakura about dates.

"Sakura-chan was... like me. She wanted acknowlegement, like I did. I tried to give it to her, but, as you know... she didn't want it from me." Naruto sighed and shook his head. "So it doesn't always work out. But if you want to know what girls look for in a guy, you should probably go talk with Sakura-chan. She could probably tell you what girls look for, since I obviously have no idea."

Kitsune's face morphed into an expression that could be best described as having tasted something repulsive, but it didn't last long. "I cannot think of anything better, so we will go with that. Anyway, you've rested long enough, it's time to practice drawing upon my chakra now."

Naruto groaned as he rubbed his forehead, slowly climbing back to his feet. "Ugh, slave driver."

"You know it. I'll go grab the Mokuton user, you prepare yourself."

The blond sighed as he looked up at the sky. When the hell was lunch?

* * *

_The next morning..._

"Where are we going?"

Sakura turned her head slightly so that she could look at her current companion out of the corner of her eye. "We're going to pick up Ino at her family flower shop before we meet up with a few others at the park."

"Ino... she's the... Yamanaka?"

"Yeah, why?"

Kitsune idly scratched at the side of her chin, "I can remember dozens of women named Ino that I've heard of or met briefly over the course of my life, I was just trying to remember that she was the most recent."

"You can remember them all? That's... pretty amazing." Sakura usually kept herself tone-neutral when talking to Kitsune, but she couldn't help but express some small amount of awe at Kitsune's memory capabilities.

"It can be a boon... or a curse, depending on your perspective. I never forget anything I experience, as if it happened yesterday."

Sakura wasn't quite sure what to say to that, as she could imagine it being exactly as Kitsune said. Something horrible may happen that she'd be able to remember in perfect clarity for the rest of her life. She couldn't help but shiver just thinking about it.

The rest of the short trip to the flower shop passed with silence between them. The pink haired girl still was not certain what to make of the bijuu walking next to her. Other than being incredibly blunt about things, and sometimes downright rude when she talked to people other than Naruto, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a small list of others, Kitsune was known for being quiet and observant. Though, if anyone came across her sparring Naruto, they'd think she was incredibly strong.

Things between them were still cool at best, apparently she had done a good job of ruining her image in the eyes of Kitsune when she used to ignore or turn away Naruto constantly in the Academy. While she had apologized to both Kitsune and Naruto for acting that way, she did state that she was still a very young girl at the time. Naruto forgave her easily, as he always did... but Kitsune was still chilly towards her. Until today, apparently.

Naruto and Kitsune had shown up at her doorstep this morning, with the blond begging her to go out and about with Kitsune and tell her all about the 'girl things' that he had no idea how to explain. He didn't stick around to clarify what he was saying either, as he had promptly shot off like a rocket the moment he finished talking, leaving Sakura there dumbfounded as Kitsune stared at her impassively. It took forever for her to understand just what it was that Kitsune wanted... or needed to talk about.

Deciding it was best if she had a group opinion about the questions Kitsune was tossing at her, she offered to get a group of them together to talk about things. After thinking about it for nearly a full minute, Kitsune eventually agreed.

The ringing door chime brought Sakura's thoughts back into focus as she stepped through the doorway into the store. She had walked the path to Ino's so many times before, she could do it blindfolded if she needed to.

"Good morning! Welco- oh, hey Sakura. I got your message."

"So can you come out for a little bit, then?"

She noticed as Ino's eyes flashed over to the redhead who had just walked in the door behind her, then back. "Sure, let me just go in the back and let my mom know I'm going out."

Sakura nodded as the blond haired girl turned around and disappeared behind a curtain. She wasn't sure what the glance towards Kitsune meant, if anything at all... though most people were cautious around the relatively new 'unknown'. After all, she had just randomly shown up with Naruto the same day he returned to the village, and was usually only ever seen around him. In the rare occasion that she was spotted alone, she was usually doing a mission and only spoke in brief sentences, if she even said anything at all.

"Okay! I'm ready to go. I'll have to be back by mid-afternoon though, I hope that's okay?"

"It's fine. What I have to ask shouldn't take that long." That Kitsune answered was surprising to both Ino and Sakura, the two of them turned to look at the redhead who appeared to be focused on some roses.

"I... I see. Alright then, let's go."

As the three of them left the shop and began walking down one of the many roads in the village towards the park they were meeting at, Ino began chatting with Sakura about some of the latest village gossip. While the pink haired girl didn't have much of a desire to know every little thing that went on in the village, she did have to admit that some things Ino knew about were rather amusing. There was even moments where she could have sworn she saw Kitsune's lips twitch upwards, though the bijuu did not comment on anything she may have heard.

The park Sakura had selected to have this discussion at was not a very busy one early in the morning, and wasn't very far from Ino's house either. Barely five minutes later they arrived at the designated clearing, only for them to immediately spot Tenten and Hinata chatting comfortably in the shade of one of the many trees scattered about the area.

"Hey Tenten, Hinata!" Ino waved her hand over her head as she shouted at the other two girls, who both quickly looked up and smiled. Tenten waved back, while Hinata quickly dipped her head forward a little.

As they approached, Tenten focused on Sakura, "So what's so urgent that you needed to talk to us first thing this morning. I wanted to sleep in today!"

"Ah, I'm sorry! This might sound a little strange, but I wanted some other opinions on some questions Kitsune has been asking me. You've all met her at least once before, right?"

All of the girls nodded, though Hinata was looking at the redhead curiously. "Yes, though I've only seen her in passing, as she was... usually with Naruto-kun."

Kitsune turned a red-eyed gaze towards the Hyuuga heiress. "Well that would make sense, considering what I am."

Hinata's eyes shot wide open, and her face quickly turned bright red. Tenten simply grunted out a 'Huh?' while Ino's screech probably woke up anyone else who may have still been sleeping nearby.

"What? Considering what you are? Ohhhh this might be good, what are you to Naruto, huh? A secret mistress? A hidden wife? I have to admit, I'm envious of your looks, though I don't really know what you found that made that goof a keeper."

At first Kitsune looked annoyed, but it slowly shifted towards a smirk as she listened to Ino ramble on. "Nothing quite so fancy as that." Kitsune turned her head to stare at Sakura. "Perhaps you should tell them about me? I don't think they'd believe it coming from me."

Sakura frowned, "Did Naruto say it was okay? I mean, that law _is_ still in effect, isn't it?"

"He gave permission. He plans on telling the males of his generation while you're here with me, though he believes some of them already know, much like you did."

"I see." Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again and looked at Ino, Tenten, and Hinata in turn before continuing, "What I say here cannot be repeated by any of you at any time, ever, unless the law is lifted or Naruto says it's okay. Got it?"

They all nodded, Hinata's and Tenten's were slow to come, curiosity etched across their features. Ino was slow to respond as well, though she was frowning slightly as she gazed at the redhead.

"Kitsune... is the Kyuubi in human form."

The other girls were surprised, certainly, though they quickly adopted looks of understanding, as if some puzzle pieces were quickly falling into place. None of them made any shocked outbursts or even seemed scared in any way.

"No comments or screams? I'm surprised."

All of the girls looked at Sakura, including Kitsune. Ino and Hinata looked like they were going to say something, but they both stopped themselves. It was Tenten who decided to explain.

"I think it's one of the best -worst- kept secrets in Konoha. No one can talk about it openly because of the law, but at this point everyone knows Naruto has a second source of chakra, especially after the exams. Eventually things start to fall into place if you just pay attention. As for me, I got confirmation from Neji. He wouldn't say anything directly about it, but the law didn't say anything about not confirming a well thought out guess."

"I-It was the same for me. After talking with Neji-niisan about his fight with Naruto-kun during the Chuunin Exam, I went to our clan archives and did some research on secondary chakra sources. I noticed that the day of the Kyuubi's defeat was also Naruto-kun's birthday, so I went and asked my father about it. He confirmed that Naruto-kun was a Jinchuuriki."

As Hinata finished speaking, everyone turned to Ino, expecting her to offer her story next. She just let out a light chuckle and shrugged slightly. "Nothing that exciting about how I found out. Shikamaru figured it out on his own and told Chouji and I. We both got confirmation from our parents. The end."

As soon as she finished, the blond girl rounded on Kitsune, pointing a finger at the bijuu and grinning wider. "Now, what's this about you and Naruto, huh? Something interesting going on between you two?"

"Probably not in the manner you are thinking." Kitsune folded her arms over her chest as she returned the blond girl's grin. "My question merely pertains to human males in general, Naruto is just the best example that I can understand since I know him better than any other. Any explanation with him as the subject would enable me to understand your explanations better. There are many things about human social patterns that I am still unfamiliar with."

Ino nodded slowly and adopted a thoughtful pose, rubbing her chin. "I see. Ask away! The great Ino-sama shall be happy to answer your questions on this day!"

Sakura groaned and rubbed her forehead, annoyed at Ino's antics at a time like this. Luckily, Kitsune seemed to ignore it, and went about asking her question anyway.

"What exactly is it that human females look for in males? As I was telling Naruto yesterday, I see plenty of pairs all throughout the village, so it cannot be that hard to find a mate, can it?"

All of the girls - other than Sakura, who already knew the question - simply stared at Kitsune in mute shock. Ino's previous thoughtful pose seemed to just disappear as she went rigid, and much the same could be said for Tenten and Hinata, who had turned their heads to look at each other, as if they weren't sure about what they heard.

"W-Wait a minute!" Ino held a hand up, as if that would keep anyone else from talking. "What brought this on, anyway? Did you just randomly start thinking about this or something?"

Kitsune just shrugged noncommitally. "I've been watching Naruto train recently, and even my mind is prone to wandering. When I think back, if I compare him to other males that I've seen during my life, I would have to consider him... how should I say it? Handsome? Attractive? I know the meaning behind the words but I'm still unfamiliar with how to determine if a person exemplifies those properties. From what I can gather, Naruto's general demeanor and physique matches up with what human females tend to strive for in a partner. Unless all of you disagree?"

Sakura was looking down at the ground, while Ino was staring at Kitsune like she had two, or even three heads. Tenten had begun tapping her chin with her forefinger and apparently in deep thought, though unlike her, Hinata had turned beet red and was looking everywhere else but towards their group.

"Well..." Ino's dragged out the word until everyone focused on her again, "I wouldn't say that girls aren't... attracted to Naruto. I mean, I'll admit that he's kinda cute, but I don't really know him well enough to be attracted to him more. He was away training for three years, and I've only seen him briefly a few dozen times or so since he got back months ago. He's probably nothing like I remember him being in school. Does that make sense?"

Kitsune nodded, but said nothing, waiting for other opinions. Tenten decided to speak up shortly after Ino finished.

"I think he's pretty good looking, yeah. If I got to know him better I could easily see myself falling for him, after the few times we've sparred and I've helped him with kunai training. He's always busy, though, and I haven't seen him much since he got back because I've been busy too. But unless he seeks me out for some reason, we'll probably just stay friends. I'm fine with that." She finished her comments with a shrug, and the other girls all seemed to nod, fully accepting of her explanation.

Ino, Kitsune, and now Tenten turned to look at Hinata and Sakura, who seemed to be unsure about what to say. Sakura opened and closed her mouth a few times, though Hinata began to speak before she could actually say anything.

"I-I've liked Naruto-kun... for a long time." Hinata's shoulders sagged, as if she was in the process of explaining some heavy burden. "Unfortunately... he isn't a member of a clan, and as my clan is right now they will not allow me, the heiress, to marry someone who isn't in a clan themselves. So until my father decides to step down, I... I..." Hinata choked back a sob, and both Ino and Sakura moved closer, resting a hand on each of the girls shoulders.

"It's okay Hinata, we understand. You don't have to continue." Hinata nodded, wiping at her eyes as she gave Ino a watery smile.

"Unfortunately I do not understand. Why can you not simply say how you feel?"

"Ah, she could say it," Sakura began to explain, "But she wouldn't be able to enter into a relationship with him because of her clan's rules right now. Essentially she's saying that if she were to start something now, they may reduce her status or even kick her out of her clan... her family. When she becomes the Matriarch, however, she would be free to pursue whoever she wants, but there is no guarantee that Naruto will still be available. Am I right, Hinata?"

The somewhat sullen girl let out a heavy sigh before she nodded. "You a-are correct."

"Hmm." Kitsune walked up a little closer and looked carefully at Hinata. The other girl let out a little 'eep' as she was being inspected, and fidgeted slightly, but Sakura and Ino's hands on her shoulders kept her from backing away.

"May I ask... what is it that attracts you to Naruto?"

It didn't take long for Hinata to blush, and continue getting redder. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as her eyes darted around everywhere, though before she could say anything some interesting thoughts must have popped into her head since she fainted dead away. Both Sakura and Ino let out startled shouts of surprise, then had to quickly adjust in order to hold the girl and set her down gently before she landed in a heap.

"I can't believe she still hasn't grown out of that."

"What?" Sakura looked over at Tenten, who seemed more amused than worried.

"Neji used to complain about this from time to time. Whenever Naruto ever came up in their conversations, she'd turn into a wreck. He doesn't know how to break her from that either, and he doesn't want to think she's a... well, a secret pervert or anything."

Sakura blushed as she looked at the dark haired girl on the ground once again. Hinata? But now that she thought about it more...

"As interesting as this conversation is, Naruto is calling for me. Apparently the Sage has a mission for him; he seems excited to get going, and he believes I will be as well."

Kitsune paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and apparently preparing herself to say something else. Sakura, Ino, and Tenten, however, were simply trying to change gears in their minds as Kitsune had totally changed the subject.

"I... appreciate your explaining to me your opinions on the matter. It has been most enlightening." She paused again, briefly, and looked at them all once more time, even the unconscious Hinata. "When I return, perhaps we can... talk some more. Farewell."

As soon as she finished speaking, she promptly dispelled in a cloud of smoke, similar to the way that Naruto's did, only this time it was tinted with a faint reddish color.

"Most enlightening?" Ino mumbled the words quietly to herself several times. "I can't say I've ever heard someone talk like that before. It sounds so... so..."

"Mature?"

Ino looked at Sakura and shrugged. "I was going to say old-fashioned, but it doesn't matter." Her voice dropped down into a more conspiratiorial tone, "Hey, she didn't get to hear about what you think about Naruto, did she?"

The pink haired teen slowly shook her head. "She already knows, and told me not to bother."

Her best friend looked positively scandalized. "What? Why?"

Sakura looked down at the ground, noticing that Hinata was starting to stir. "Because of how I treated him before. She didn't say never, but she made it very clear that I shouldn't bother right now."

"Someone that doesn't understand attraction was telling you to not be?"

Sakura tossed her friend a wry smile as Hinata began moving again, Tenten was leaning down to help the girl to her feet. "I know. Funny, isn't it? I'll tell you more later, but right now I'm gonna make sure Hinata is okay."

"Sure thing, Forehead." Ino's voice dropped down low enough to be just a mumble, "This I've _got_ to hear."

* * *

A/N: There you have it. Everything takes place while Naruto is 15, and next chapter will be when he is 16. You've probably noticed some differences from canon that started last chapter and are continuing this chapter, and to a greater degree. The deviations will continue to a greater degree as Naruto gets older. That's all about this particular chapter, and as always a big thanks to my beta, Denim88, for checking through this monster. (Twenty five thousand words!)

As is my usual side note, I've updated my profile as pertains to those who follow along with my Billy vs Snakeman adventures. Not much to report on for my writing job, though... getting to the point where I can't spoil surprises.


	8. Sixteen, Part One

**Age Sixteen - Part One  
**

_Two weeks later, somewhere in eastern Rice Field Country..._

Nii Yugito sighed as she swirled the remaining broth of her meal with her chopsticks, watching as it spun about clockwise inside her bowl. It wasn't that she disliked ramen, as it was she hardly ever ate the stuff, but it was a little too salty for her. The deeper problem was likely that she wasn't very hungry in the first place, but this was the designated meeting place of her latest mission, so she figured she may as well buy something while here.

A frown worked its way over her face as she thought about her current situation. She had been at the gates of Cloud Village, ready to depart on a solo A Rank mission just about a week ago that seemed like it would be a walk in the park. However, one of the BOLT operatives caught up with her just as she was getting ready to depart, stating that Raikage-sama wished to see her before she left. Apparently it was urgent and her mission was going to be shifted to another shinobi.

She was surprised; Raikage-sama never called on her in a manner like this, at least not with any expressed urgency, so she immediately followed the BOLT operative back towards the central compound. She had to admit to herself that she was a little peeved at losing such an easy mission too – but in the long run it was of little consequence.

"Excuse me, miss... is there anything wrong with your meal?"

Yugito looked up, surprised. She quickly realized it was the elderly man who had served her the ramen, and he was giving her a curious, if somewhat apprehensive look. The young woman immediately stopped stirring the broth, waving him off apologetically.

"O-Oh no, I'm fine, really! I just got lost in thought, is all."

The gentle smile he offered as he nodded immediately relaxed her. "I see. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Take your time, young miss."

"I will, thank you."

As he moved over to assist one of the other customers nearby, Yugito slowly looked down at the still spinning broth in her bowl. For no particular reason, she started moving her chopsticks in it, counter-clockwise this time. As the broth began swirling in the other direction, she once again thought back as to why she was here.

It surprised her that when she arrived, Killer Bee was already there, and he had an unusually serious expression on his face as he talked with his brother, the Raikage, in hushed tones. They immediately looked to her as she entered, and Ei-sama wasted no time in explaining why he had called her here.

Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin had sent a message through to the Raikage via his network. Courtesy of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, he was willing to offer a technique that could assist the jinchuuriki of Cloud in futher developing their rapport with their bijuu. There was no catch, as apparently the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki felt as if all jinchuuriki were like family to him, even if they had never met. On top of that, it was a personal request of the Kyuubi that he offer this technique as well.

Both Killer Bee and herself looked at each other for a moment before looking at the Raikage once again, neither one really believing what they had heard. Even if they didn't know intricate details, they knew that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was younger than they both were, but he was presuming to offer them some way to work better with their bijuu that they didn't know about?

Yugito was about to scoff and say forget it, until the Raikage stopped her in her tracks.

_"I know what both of you are thinking. There is no way someone younger than you can know more about his bijuu than either of you do. However..." Ei sighed before rubbing at his forehead, "Think about the source of this message. It's Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin. Of the three, he is known as the most honorable of the lot, and is nothing he says is to be taken lightly. I've had backroom dealings with him before."_

_"I don't know..." Yugito mumbled, more to herself than anyone else. She looked over towards Bee, expecting him to say something... or anything, really. Instead he continued to stare at his brother, one arm across his chest as his other hand rubbed his chin._

_"Other than the fact that you may actually learn something, this is a win-win situation politically. If we go along with this small request, it will look good to Konoha. I know there is no love lost between our villages, but since they already have Suna in their back pocket, I'd rather stand with those two rather than remain solitary like Kiri and Iwa."_

_Yugito frowned, but couldn't really see a problem with it, now that the Raikage had clarified. They really didn't have anything to lose, and as a jinchuuriki she could take virtually everything thrown at her. If it was a trap and she did get into some kind of scrap with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, she believed that her experience would help her turn the tide._

_"I'm not sure about this, they might try to get in some hits. But if this really is on the down low, maybe we should just go with the flow."_

_The suprisingly quiet Killer Bee finally made a comment, though in his usual rhyme. Yugito had finally gotten used to it after training with the man for so long, but the Raikage still began to twitch, forcefully reigning himself in._

_"If they do, it's their funeral. I'm sending both of you, though only Yugito will meet with them - at first, anyway. If she enters combat, you'll go assist her immediately. I'm sure both of you together will have no trouble subduing the Kyuubi. Don't engage for long, though... if a fight breaks out, do a tactical retreat. Jiraiya will be there, and the information can access is second to none. Even if his services are expensive I'd rather not lose that resource."_

"Quiet night, isn't it?"

Yugito jumped up a little from her stool, caught completely off guard. She couldn't believe that she was so distracted that she didn't notice-

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle a pretty woman such as yourself."

She narrowed her eyes as she turned to her right, curious about who would be so blatant in trying to flirt with her after only the second sentence. When she did look, however, the tall man with a lot of bright white hair simply gave her a creepy looking grin. He wasn't grinning in the picture of him that she saw that they had on file in Cloud - which was admittedly several years old - but the familiarity was enough that she easily figured out who the man was.

Yugito suddenly found herself shivering a little. It was well known that any of the Densetsu no Sannin could likely match any Kage in pure combat talent, and one of them was sitting right next to her. Even if she was a jinchuuriki and had plenty of power, a man like Jiraiya had easily three times the experience she did.

"You must be-"

Jiraiya held a hand up, expression serious, which stalled her comment. He simply nodded at her, then gave her a simple gesture to follow him. Nodding silently, she turned and quickly downed the rest of the broth from her meal, then left some money on the counter before departing from the stand. He was waiting patiently outside when she exited, then turned and began to walk as soon as he knew she saw him.

Their stroll was silent as she followed a couple paces behind him, but she quickly moved closer as it was becoming apparent that they were leaving the small village.

"Where are we going?"

Jiraiya turned his head to the side a little bit, glancing at her from the corner of his eye before facing forward again. "Naruto is waiting in a camp not far from here. What we have to say and offer... it would be for the best if there were fewer chances of us being overheard. Where is Killer Bee, by the way?"

Yugito decided it would be best to be friendly, but still be wary as her profession demanded. "He's shy. But he's aware of our conversation."

Jiraiya tossed her an amused look, to which she smiled faintly and then gently tapped the collar of her tunic. The Toad Sage nodded, understanding that she was wired so that Killer Bee could hear what was going on. It became obvious that the Raikage obviously didn't completely trust the offer, which wasn't surprising considering the history between their villages. He was willing to potentially risk one of his jinchuuriki, but not both of them. A small part of him felt stirrings of pity for Yugito since she was obviously the expendable one... though she probably wouldn't appreciate those feelings if she was at all like Naruto.

"Is Naruto the name of Konoha's jinchuuriki?"

Jiraiya nodded as he faced forward again. "Yes. You didn't know that?"

"We only knew that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was located in Konoha. After the death of your Yondaime Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina, we thought the Kyuubi had been killed, as Konoha claimed. But when it did not appear again approximately nine years later, we knew Konoha had lied, and probably had a new Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. As to who it was, however, I don't believe we ever found out. At least I was never informed."

The white haired man hummed to himself after hearing Yugito's comments. He was actually surprised that they still had no idea who it was, but perhaps she wasn't high enough on the chain of command to be told. It was a moot point now, anyway. "I'll let him introduce himself to you. We're almost there."

The rest of their journey was silent, the only noises to accompany them were those of nature as the sun slowly disappeared and nocturnal creatures made their presence known. They weren't very far out of town before Jiraiya steered them off the path, into the nearby woods. As they passed into the trees, Yugito felt herself tense up slightly. If anything bad were to happen, it likely would soon.

However, as time passed and they moved further into the trees, she wasn't sure what to think. Trying to do something to keep her mind off the fact that she was alone with someone who could likely take her out on a whim, she asked how much further they had to walk.

"We're almost there, I'm fairly sure. We'll probably be seeing the campfire soon."

Sure enough, no more than a minute after he said that, Yugito noticed a flickering orange light in the distance. At the same time, Jiraiya looked over his shoulder at her and pointed towards it, to which she nodded.

As they approached the small clearing where the camp was located, Yugito's eyes settled on a young man, probably in his mid to late teens who was sitting on a log with his back to them. He sat up straighter and looked over his shoulder slightly as they approached, but then settled back down.

"Welcome back."

Jiraiya grunted as he walked around to the other side of the fire, sitting down on another piece of wood. Unsure as to what was going to happen now, Yugito moved so that she was facing the fire, but several steps away from it, between Naruto and Jiraiya so she could see both of them.

"Ero-Sennin, I thought you said there were two?"

Jiraiya's immediate reply was cut off as Yugito quickly stifled a chortle, holding her hand over her mouth and blushing as she looked between the both of them with wide eyes. She couldn't help herself... knowing that Jiraiya was was called such a name by a teenager – to his face, no less.

Jiraiya ignored her, and simply chose to send a glare at his apprentice. "What have I said about calling me that in front of others?"

"Not to?"

The Sage sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "Right. Anyway, as I told you before we don't exactly have the best history between our villages. Killer Bee is listening in, but just in case this was a trap, he isn't here. To be honest, I'm surprised that the Raikage even sent one of you."

Yugito nodded slowly, "He pulled me off another mission to come here."

Something about Jiraiya changed, and he stared at her for a moment. "Was it an A Rank mission that looked rather easy?"

"It would have been easy for me, yes... why?"

The man seemed to deflate, but in such a way that could be interpreted as relief. "I'm glad the Raikage followed through then. I just found out before we came here - after I sent my request to the Raikage - that some A Rank missions were being sent to villages to lure out jinchuuriki."

"Lures? You don't mean..."

Jiraiya nodded slowly. "Yes. I feel sorry for whatever team ended up with that mission, if Akatsuki decides to take out their aggravation on them. The only reason I was aware of it was because I've got eyes on some of the bank accounts they've used, and one of my people was able to trace where some of their money went. This isn't the first time they've tried this, its only the latest in a series of attempts. They set up what looks like a standard mission, then ambush you. The rumor is that Iwa and Kiri have both lost a jinchuuriki this way."

Yugito stared at the fire and nodded, trying not to appear startled and also not being surprised at the lengths Akatsuki might go to get at any jinchuuriki. Potentially any mission she would go on could be a trap, and she'd never know until too late. Figuring it was time to get back to her original reason for being out here, she moved her focus from the flames towards the Toad Sage once again.

"So, you were saying something in your letter about helping me interact better with Nibi?" A motion in the corner of her eyes caused her focus to shift over towards the boy - Naruto. However, instead of looking at her, he was staring over the fire at the Sage as well.

"Yes. At this point, even though it pains me to admit it," Jiraiya held a hand over his heart and grimaced, "Naruto is more knowledgeable about the particulars of this since he is actually the one that made it. I've just been along for the ride."

Yugito's eyebrows raised slightly as she took in the form of the young man who was still sitting on the log. If she had to be honest with herself, if she was facing him as an opponent, he didn't really look like much. She chided herself at the same time, however, because if there was one thing they learned early in their careers it was that someone who seemed completely unlike they would be much of a threat often make the best predators. The very fact that he was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki greatly reinforced this notion.

Yugito watched as he finally shifted his attention over to her, and she almost had to do a double-take. His eyes and hair alone were very familiar, and though she knew she had never seen him before in her life, it was almost like she had seen a picture of someone who looked very similar to him some time in the past.

His eyes were very bright and sharp, and Yugito felt both amusement and a tiny surge of arousal as she noticed them travel up and down her body once before settling on her face. She would have threatened to kill most men who looked at her that way - but she had to admit that this Naruto was a rather good looking guy, a jinchuuriki like her, and was at least somewhat intelligent if he was as good at seals as the Sage claimed. Besides, beating him now for letting his eyes wander would likely cause him to take back whatever he was willing to offer.

Yugito was pulled from her thoughts when he finally spoke again. "The first thing I need to do is know what kind of seal you have and where it is. I may have to modify the one that I use for the Kyuubi, if yours isn't Eight Trigrams."

The Kumo kunoichi had to admit what he said just went right over her head. "To be honest... I have no idea. I'm not that good with sealing myself."

"Okay. Then I'll have to take a look at it to see it." Naruto grunted a little as he finally stood up. "I don't know where your seal is located though, mine is around my navel."

Yugito nodded and started to reach for the zipper of her jacket, only to stop and look towards the Sage. She had heard rumors about the man, and if the way he was staring at her now - notebook and pen in hand - she really didn't want him around.

Luckily for her, Naruto decided to save her some embarrassment and cleared his throat, gaining Jiraiya's attention. "Ero-Sennin. Wasn't there a brothel in town?"

"Yeah, but I think I can get better research here."

"What do you think is going to happen here? Don't make me summon Kitsune." Naruto's voice had dropped as if it was a clear threat, and surprisingly Jiraiya immediately jumped to his feet and took off, saying not to worry and have fun.

"Sorry about that." Naruto was shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. "At least some things never change, I guess."

"It's alright. It seems as though you know how to handle him." Yugito gave him a small smile, and started tugging on the zipper of her tunic again. "By the way, is this Kitsune... the Kyuubi?"

Naruto chuckled. "How'd you guess?"

"Seriously? The name gave it away pretty easily."

"They did say it would be obvious, but Kitsune didn't really care... so the name stuck." Naruto smirked a little before his look became more expectant, and finally settled into one of puzzlement.

"What?"

The teenaged boy gestured towards her stomach. "Weren't you going to show me your seal? You stopped."

Yugito looked down, the hand that had been pulling her zipper down had stopped just below her collarbone. It wasn't until that moment that what she was about to do actually clicked in her mind. She was unzipping her top in front of a shinobi from another nation, even if it was another jinchuuriki. One that was obviously younger than her, though probably not by much.

She removed her hand from the zipper, then shifted to place both hands on her hips as she stared at him. "Before I show you my seal, exactly what am I going to be getting out of this?"

Naruto blinked for a moment as he stared at her. "They didn't tell you?"

Yugito shook her head. "All I heard was that I'd be able to work better with Nibi. Nothing more. I'd like to hear why before I strip in front of someone I just met."

"S-Strip?" Naruto looked away, down towards the ground, clearly embarrassed. "I just needed to see the seal so I can create a summoning array for you. That's all."

"Huh?" Yugito went still, looking at the teen in front of her with wide eyes. "Did you just say summon? I'll be able to summon Nibi out here without breaking the seal?"

Naruto slowly returned his gaze to Yugito, who seemed to be completely flabbergasted. "Sort of. You can't summon Nibi completely, but you can summon its mind and some of its chakra into a clone that you make. I use a Shadow Clone."

"I don't know how to make a Shadow Clone." Yugito began to frown. She didn't want to miss out on this because she didn't know a technique that was native to Konoha.

"The Shadow Clone is part of the summoning array of the seal now, so you don't need to know it. You just need a lot of chakra. The more chakra you put into the clone, the more of Nibi's chakra you can place into the clone as well. Depending on how things work out, I may be able to switch the seal to use a Lightning Clone, or whatever type you prefer." Before Yugito could say anything, Naruto reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small scroll that he quickly unraveled.

Yugito watched closely as Naruto kneeled down to the ground, unfurling the scroll in the process. Setting it down on a patch of dirt, he placed his hand in the middle of the seal and looked up at her. "This seal used to be about five times this size. With Kitsune's and Ero-Sennin's help I've been able to shrink it down to fit into this scroll."

Looking back down at his hand again, she noticed a blue glow form around it, which meant he was pumping a _lot_ of his own chakra into this technique. He never said a word, though, and within seconds there was a large burst of smoke that caused her to take an involuntary step backward.

As the smoke cleared, Yugito saw another hand appear from within and start to wave it away. Almost immediately a form became visible as the smoke cleared. It didn't take long for the figure to register as a female with shoulder-length red hair that ended with black tips; that itself was rather unique. The woman was very pretty too, with sharp features, bright red eyes that almost seemed to glow, and a figure that Yugito would die... or preferrably, kill for.

If nothing else, she was surprised by how young the summon of Kyuubi looked. She would have figured that Kyuubi would have been much older, though perhaps there was more to her than met the eye.

"Kyuubi?"

The redhead nodded slowly as she took a step towards Yugito, stepping off the scroll on the ground. As Naruto collected it, Kyuubi began talking to her.

"You can call me Kitsune. That is the name we decided on."

"I see." She frowned slightly, looking the bijuu over once again. "I thought bijuu didn't have a gender? How do I know you aren't just some transformation over a Shadow Clone?"

Kitsune stared straight ahead at Yugito, not breaking eye contact. "I initially decided on this form because Naruto is male and when we spar it would help him prepare for... intense confrontations. As for me really being a bijuu... would you like me to explain what Ginkaku and Kinkaku tasted like when I ate them?"

Yugito's eyes widened briefly before she turned away, looking slightly green. "N-No, that's alright. I believe you, for now."

"Good. For now." Kitsune waved at her with a dismissing gesture. "Show us your seal."

Suddenly feeling nervous, Yugito grabbed at the zipper once again, pulling it down slowly. Once it finally split apart at her waist, she used both hands to pull open the front slightly, enough to reveal her toned abs, navel, and chest - which she was glad that she had decided to wrap with tape today.

"Naruto, what are you doing? Let's get to work on this."

Yugito looked at the teen, and immediately grinned. He had obviously been trying not to stare, even though she had only opened her front. He probably didn't realize that her chest was bound in tape, and didn't think about it until she had actually unzipped completely.

"Would it help if I took the rest of my top off?" Yugito couldn't keep the small grin off her face, and the only thing that did eventually remove it was when Kitsune let out a low growl. Looking towards the bijuu now, she was relieved to find that it was actually growling at Naruto, who was still having trouble looking at her and blushing even more than before.

"Naruto! I thought we'd been training for this! It's a good thing we aren't fighting or you'd be dead by now."

"I know... I know... I'm sorry. I'll focus." Naruto forced himself to look at her, to which she simply offered him a wry grin. His hands bunched up into fists before he let out a deep breath and apparently decided to stare at her stomach instead. Yugito looked towards Kitsune again, to see that the redhead was watching Naruto intently, though figuring out what her current expression meant was completely beyond her understanding.

Yugito watched and waited patiently for several minutes, holding her top open as Naruto carefully examined the seal on her stomach. She had to admit that his look of concentration was rather cute, and had to forcefully keep a few smiles off her face when she saw him attempt to touch her stomach to trace a part of the seal, only to yank his hand back as if burned. His blushes and muttered apologies only endeared her towards him more.

Normally she probably would have made a few comments, if only to ease any tension, but the way Kitsune was staring back and forth between herself and Naruto gave her an uncomfortable vibe. She didn't want to say it was fear keeping her from asking Kitsune if there was a problem, but that likely had something to do it. She only contained the Nibi, there was no way she wanted to get into a pissing match with the Kyuubi over anything, even if the Hachibi was nearby for backup.

"Alright. Your seal isn't too much different than mine, though since you only have an Iron Armor seal you'll probably be able to make a clone out of Nibi's chakra without needing to use your own. We can test it here, but there are some things I want to verify in a book I left at home." Naruto looked back and forth between her and Kitsune as she talked, explaining to both of them.

Yugito nodded as she started to zip up her top again, "So do you need me to come with you?"

Naruto looked at her, obviously surprised. With Kitsune it was harder to tell, though her eyebrows did raise as well.

"You can come with us to Konoha? I thought I'd go make the seal and then we could meet up again or I'd send a clone to deliver it to you in Kumo."

Yugito shook her head. "This was a mission that was assigned to me by Raikage-sama, so I can go wherever I need to. It makes sense for me to just go with you, especially in case you need to check the seal again. Killer Bee will report my whereabouts to Raikage-sama. In fact, if I know him, he's probably upset that he won't get to go too. Unless, of course, Raikage-sama changes his 'stay in Kaminari' rule."

Naruto shrugged, obviously indifferent, then looked around the camp. "I'll clean up camp and we'll head into town to grab Ero-Sennin, then leave for Konoha. Unless you're tired?"

Yugito shook her head negatively, and Naruto turned to look at his bijuu. "Do you want to dispel or stay out here?"

Kitsune stared at him, then flicked her gaze over towards Yugito for a moment. "I think I'll... stay out here for a while."

Something about the way Kitsune looked at her, followed by the tone of voice sent a shiver down her spine. This was probably going to be a very long trip.

* * *

_The next afternoon, somewhere in northern Fire Country..._

The traveling rumble of an explosion caused the small group of travelers to pause and listen for any follow-up sounds to try and isolate where it came from. Naruto began to stretch out his senses, only for Jiraya to shout out to follow him, then run into the forest. Yugito and Kitsune followed immediately after, and without a word Naruto settled into the rear of their makeshift formation.

It didn't take long for them to encounter the source of the noises - a team of Konoha shinobi facing off against two people wearing black cloaks with red clouds. Akatsuki.

Naruto recognized all the members of the team from Konoha, but before he could say anything he overheard the two Akatsuki members start to chat loudly with each other.

"Hey, Kakuzu? Isn't that..?"

"Yes. Our no-show Nibi Jinchuuriki from last week. It would seem she was meeting up with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Jiraiya is here as well... hmm. It is convenient to not have to hunt down the Jinchuuriki, but this will not be an easy fight, Hidan."

The member with white hair began laughing like a maniac as he swung his scythe around. "Alright, whatever! Lord Jashin is going to love this, first I got to sacrifice those replacements sent instead of the Nibi Jinchuuriki, and now we get even more!"

"Shut up and focus, Hidan. This is going to be nothing like you've ever faced before."

"Bah, who cares, bastard! We're immortal, so what can they hope to do against us? Bring it on, I say!"

Naruto began to tune them out as they continued talking back and forth to each other, and instead changed his focus to observe his own allies and their surroundings. They were a decent length from any well-traveled path, so the chances of anyone else showing up were small unless they knew exactly where to look.

Jiraiya had already landed near the Konoha team and was conversing with them, which looked to consist of Asuma, Shikamaru, Izumo, and Kotetsu. Naruto had landed just inside the clearing, not wanting to bunch up too close with the others in case Akatsuki attacked them. Yugito was standing a few steps away from him, obviously agitated, while Kitsune was standing on his other side and still appeared to be rather calm about the entire situation.

"Naruto! You and Yugito hang back for now. We'll take care of this." Jiraya shouted over to them, for some reason sending Hidan into a laughing fit. Naruto wasn't happy about being held back, and was about to argue until Kitsune put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kitsune? What?"

"Wait for an opening. Let them cause a distraction, then use your new technique. How long can you hold it now?"

"About a minute if I concentrate."

"That should be long enough."

Yugito took the few steps over to them. "What technique? This involves me too, I don't want to sit here and do nothing."

Naruto was going to answer, but Kitsune squeezed his shoulder and answered for him, with a decidedly feral smile on her face, "When the time comes, we may need you to be a distraction. Naruto has an attack that I'm certain will kill at least one of these two."

Yugito gestured towards the two Akatsuki, who had started defending against fire attacks from Asuma and Jiraiya. "Didn't they just finish boasting about immortality?"

"No one is truly immortal." Kitsune slowly shook her head, "It is likely some special technique or ability. If the first Sage of Six Paths could not gain immortality, then no other shinobi can claim something he could not obtain. Even the bijuu can die, though we are reborn after a time. Our energy can not simply disappear."

Kitsune had to stop talking as a nearby explosion kicked up dirt and debris around them, and they all had to shield themselves from it. Throughout it all, Hidan could still be heard laughing, along with Kakuzu's shouts telling his partner to shut up.

"Our opening will likely come soon. Prepare yourself." Kitsune grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him behind her. "Yugito and I will go in front of you and hold Kakuzu when he lets his guard down. When we grab him, get behind him and use your technique. We likely won't be able to hold him down for long. Hopefully the others will be able to handle Hidan, if not we will help deal with him later."

Naruto nodded, then went wide-eyed as a fireball began heading right for them. He saw Yugito move away in his peripheral vision, but Kitsune was still facing him and wouldn't notice until too late.

Kitsune's eyes went wide as Naruto jumped towards her. Wrapping his arms around her torso, he quickly jumped out of the way of the oncoming ball of fire. Landing on a tree branch a fair distance away, the shockwave of heat and debris washed over them not a moment after Naruto touched down.

The blond turned and looked over his shoulder at where the fireball landed, noticing several small fires that had started in the nearby brush, as well as a decently sized crater where they had been standing before.

"You can let go of me now."

Surprised, Naruto turned to face forward, only to realize that he was still holding Kitsune in his arms, and his face was barely a couple inches away from hers. Even though he was surprised, his motor functions were non-responsive as he simply stared into her bright red eyes.

"Naruto?"

Hearing his name was enough to snap him out of his funk. It took seconds for him to release her and promptly jump a few meters backwards on the branch, until his back hit the tree trunk. As he began to stutter out apologies, his face began to turn the color of Kitsune's hair.

"Save your apologies. Why did you move me?"

"W-Wha? You were going to be hit by an attack! Why wouldn't I save you?"

Kitsune simply stared at him for a moment, "I'm in the body of a clone. I would have dispelled." It only made it worse that she stated the fact with no inflection in her voice, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Naruto felt his embarrassment start to fade, only to be replaced by shock and anger. "So what? I still didn't want to see you get dispelled because of a fireball! What if you weren't a clone?"

Kitsune's head tilted slightly to the left, in her now customary display of curiosity. "I would not have let it get the best of me if I was not a clone. I felt it coming, and still had enough time to move."

The teen opened his mouth to continue, but Yugito landed on another branch slightly above them, causing the duo to look up at her. "Are we continuing with the plan from before?"

"Yes." Kitsune spoke up before Naruto could say anything. "Like we discussed. We will hold him down and otherwise attempt keep him distracted, while Naruto moves in for the killing blow with his new technique." Not giving Naruto a chance to get a word in, the redhead moved towards the battle. Yugito tossed Naruto a glance of her own before promptly following.

"What the hell..." Naruto grumbled under his breath. He didn't know why he was getting so worked up over Kitsune not immediately trying to avoid that fireball, but it would have to wait until after this fight. He promptly made two other clones to help him with his newest technique, and they all nodded to each other before following after the other two.

* * *

_That evening, Konoha..._

Naruto sighed for what was probably the hundredth time that day as he sat on his hospital bed. The fight had gone exactly as planned - Kitsune and Yugito had snuck up and grabbed Kakuzu, who was too busy trying to figure out what they were doing and ignoring him. Since Asuma, Izumo, and Kotetsu were doing a pretty good job of keeping his other 'masks' occupied, Kakuzu didn't recognize the screeching noise of the Rasenshuriken right away. By the time he did noticedNaruto, the blond was upon him with the new deadly technique. Yugito had moved away perhaps a little before she should have, probably out of worry about getting caught in the technique's blast, but Kitsune had decided to hang on until the last minute and was dispelled as a result.

Luckily they had only had to do it once. Kakuzu was evidently the long range combatant of their Akatsuki team, as Jiraya simply covered Hidan in toad oil then lit him on fire. The group watched as the man flailed and screamed and cursed for a good three minutes minimum before finally falling unconscious from the pain. Apparently he had some kind of impressive regeneration ability, because even when he was unconscious when the fire was out, they watched as his body quickly healed itself. They bound him securely, made sure Kakuzu was dead with a finishing blow courtesy of Asuma, then sealed both of their bodies into scrolls and returned to Konoha.

The return trip was pleasant for the most part, Jiraiya, Asuma, and Shikamaru were obviously impressed by the Rasenshuriken and Kotetsu and Izumo kept thanking Naruto for showing up every few minutes. Naruto was trying to be gracious and polite, claiming Kitsune was the one who came up with the idea, but they continued to thank him regardless. He probably would have been laughing more if Kitsune hadn't decided to continue holding Kakuzu long enough to get herself dispelled.

As it was, his right hand and most of his forearm still burned like crazy because of using the Rasenshuriken; some of the backlash had caught him as well and it must have torn up something in his arm. He could barely channel any chakra through it, as he discovered when he tried to summon Kitsune again. At first he was going to yell at her, but after a while of thinking about it, decided it was probably in his best interests to chill out for a little while. She'd just call him a fool anyway for not making use of her as a resource, especially when she could be summoned again. It may have been a little bit childish, but he didn't bother visting her in his mindscape either.

He turned to look at the door as it opened, one of the nurses leaned in and gave him a brief smile. "Haruno-san asked me to stop by and see if you were okay. How are you feeling?"

Naruto scratched at the side of his head with his good hand, offering the nurse a resigned smile. "My hand itches a bit, but for the most part it's fine. I'm bored as hell, though."

The nurse nodded, her expression trying to offer him either sympathy or pity, he couldn't tell. Probably both. "Hokage-sama ordered that you were not to leave this room until she could get here herself later this evening. She wasn't happy with what Haruno-san reported to her about what you did to your arm, and wishes to inspect it herself."

"Yeah, yeah. Why did they give this to me anyway? I'm pretty sure I'm all healed by now." Naruto held up his arm that was in the hard cast. In all his time as a shinobi, and even before, he had never needed one. It's not like he had a broken bone. Even if he did, he doubted it would take more than a day or two to heal.

"Hokage-sama said it would be harder for you to escape with only one hand, so it would be in our best interests as we need you to remain here until Hokage-sama gives you permission to leave."

Naruto grumbled under his breath, and he knew he heard the nurse try to stifle a giggle at his reaction. He turned to look back out the window again, figuring she had finished telling him everything, only for her to begin speaking once again. "I'm also told to remind you that Hokage-sama has prohibited visitors, so that nothing would happen to aggravate what was wrong with your arm, but it seems she gave special permission for one visitor. Would you like me to send them in?"

Naruto looked at the nurse in surprise. When Sakura was checking and trying to heal his arm, she had already banned anyone from visiting his room directly. At first he joked with her that she was just being possessive, and got a bonk on the head for it. He did notice, however, that she didn't immediately deny it, and simply called him an idiot. Then she went on to explain that it was standard procedure to not allow visitors until the doctors had cleared their patients, and she wasn't going to clear him until after talking with Tsunade. Since Tsunade still hadn't been to see him yet, he still hadn't been cleared for visitors.

"Sure. Do you know who it is?"

The nurse shook her head as she turned to leave the room. "It's a blond haired woman, that is all I can really say about her. A relative of you, or Hokage-sama, or the Yamanaka's, perhaps? There aren't many blonds in the village, so I can only guess. I'll let her know to come up."

The nurse disappeared through the door before Naruto could say anything else, not that he had anything to share with the nurse. He had no living relatives that he knew of, neither did Tsunade, and of the Yamanaka Clan he only knew of Ino, her father, and one of her uncles that he had a passing encounter with. His hair color was very rare in general, something he had noticed long ago when trying to imagine other people being 'long lost family'. There was one other person it could be, but he didn't see why-

He must have been lost in thought for longer than he intended, as a light knock on his door snapped him out of his reverie. "Come in."

Almost immediately the door to his room opened one again, only for mild surprise to show on his features as Yugito walked through and gently closed the door behind herself.

"How are you feeling?"

Her words snapped him from his brief funk, and he simply offered her a wry grin, holding up his covered arm. "Fine. I don't think I need this anymore, but Tsunade-baachan won't take it off without seeing me first. Otherwise, I'm just really bored."

Yugito nodded, offering a brief smile before moving across the room to go look out the window. Naruto kept his eyes on her as she moved across the room, not seeing anything different about her compared to when they met or fought Akatsuki. It was also surprising that she was able to move around without an escort, though he knew she was probably at least under observation.

"I'm surprised that Kitsune isn't here."

Naruto's mind immediately snapped back to their skirmish with Akatsuki, a small frown crossing his features. "I can't channel chakra through my arm very well, and I don't want to mess anything up. Besides, I didn't know if I felt like it anyway."

"Why not? Her plan worked, didn't it?"

Naruto frustratingly rubbed at his cheek with his good hand. "Yeah, but she didn't move out of the way and kept holding onto that Kakuzu guy when the Rasenshuriken connected. It forced her to dispel."

Even if he wasn't looking at her any more, he could tell she was scrutinizing him closely. "So you are upset. That's amusing, since she can be summoned at any time."

Naruto huffed, and tried to cross both of his arms, only for the position to become awkward with one of his arms in a cast. He grumbled as they dropped back down to his sides. "I know she would say the same thing. I just... I don't like it. If she wasn't just a summon right now, she could have been-"

"But she is, so she wasn't harmed." Yugito cut him off sharply, making the younger blond wince as he met her eyes. "Are you really a shinobi? Even if she was only a summon, aren't you supposed to harden your emotions against things like this?"

"It's not that easy," Naruto mumbled. "Kitsune has helped me more than anyone else in my entire life. So seeing her dispelled by my own technique... if she had been real..." As his voice trailed off and he looked at his hands, Yugito's eyes softened slightly as she watched him.

"Perhaps I should change the subject. There are some things Hokage-sama wanted me to talk to you about before she visits you later. Besides, from what I have been able to understand about Kitsune, she will probably yell at you later."

Yugito couldn't keep the smile off her face as Naruto pouted, then grumbled something she couldn't quite make out. He likely believed the same thing would happen. Hopefully she could be around when he finally was able to summon her again.

* * *

_Six Days Later_

Naruto scratched at his head as he examined the new seal for Yugito. She would be stopping by later today to test it out, and even though he was nervous, he'd never admit that to anyone. It wouldn't be a problem if he was using this on himself – but he wasn't. This seal was completely custom, made for use by Yugito. Sure, the principle of what the seal did was based on his own, but Yugito had a completely different containment seal, which meant the summoning array used for his own would not work for hers.

"Nervous?"

Naruto turned his head slightly to look at Kitsune from the corner of his eyes. She knew he was, of course – much as she seemed to know everything about him. It would be hard for her not to, since she seemed to pay more attention to the things that went through his head lately since meeting Yugito. Come to think of it, several things about Kitsune had changed.

For starters, he had totally expected her to yell at him when he summoned her again, three days later. However, she had simply given him a clipped smile and proceeded as if it was a completely normal summoning. Not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, he played along, and even now nothing had been discussed.

"Yes, but you already know I am, right?"

Kitsune nodded slowly, then sat down next to him at the small table he had been doing his work on. As she sat down, she offered the blond a few pieces of paper – the completed seal design that she had been looking over.

"Well?"

Kitsune nodded at him as he grabbed the sheets. "I can see no faults. It should work fine."

After taking a deep breath, Naruto brushed his free hand back through his spiky hair just as there was a knocking sound on his apartment door. Knowing who it was, he tossed Kitsune a quick glance before standing up to go answer it. This was going to be the moment of truth for his new creation.

He opened the door to see Yugito standing there with a small smile on her face. "Hey, Naruto. Is it ready?"

"Yes." He stood back away from the entrance, gesturing for her to come inside. As she walked inside she offered him a quick nod in passing, then proceeded directly to the room where they had been working on the seal previously. After getting all the information he had needed about her particular seal, he had asked her for five days to finish it. Today was the fifth day.

Naruto had to admit to himself that he was surprised the Raikage allowed Yugito to stay here as long as she did, but since he was helping her and they had indirectly saved her from being captured by Akatsuki, the leader of Kumo was probably willing to go along with them. For now, anyway.

After closing the door, he followed in the footsteps of the other blond haired Jinchuuriki back to the room he had just left. Yugito had already occupied the chair that Naruto had vacated, and was eagerly looking over the various seals that were written on the various pieces of paper scattered about.

Kitsune had since moved away from the table, and was observing Yugito with a passive expression. The bijuu had been rather tight-lipped when it came to discussing the other Jinchuuriki at any length, and unless it was about the seal, she generally chose not to comment, no matter what Naruto said.

Naruto moved to stand next to the other Jinchuuriki, grabbing for once specific piece of paper on the desk. Yugito stopped looking around and watched him as he offered it to her. "This is it. It was harder than I thought it would be, but I did it. Both Kitsune and Ero-Sennin checked it, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Shouldn't be?" Yugito had her eyebrows raised as she accepted the paper with the intricate design. She had to admit that it did look a lot more complicated than the ones she had seen her fellow blond using.

"I can't guarantee it will be perfect – that's the risk taken with any new seal. You can only test to see if it works. I've added a lot of safety seals over the summoning seal, so if something does go wrong we'll all be safe."

"I... understand." Yugito eyed the paper with the intricate design on it, silently marveling at the work that must have gone into it. There were lines of multiple sizes, all at precise angles. She never had as much appreciation for the amount of work that likely went into seals as she did looking at this one. No wonder some seal tags cost so much.

Naruto gestured to a relatively clutter-free area of his room. "You can try the summon right there. The Nibi will appear in a copy of yourself. Just stand over the seal and make the ram seal to perform the summoning technique. The seal will take care of the rest."

Doing as instructed, Yugito moved to the middle of the cleared area and gently set the sealing paper down on the floor. Taking a deep breath, she moved to stand over it, and turned to face Naruto.

The Cloud shinobi immeditately noticed that Kitsune had moved over to stand next to him, her expression still completely impassive. Naruto, on the other hand, appeared to be positively giddy. He was staring at her with a big smile on his face, nodding for her to continue.

Taking a deep breath, Yugito brought her hands together into the ram sign, and concentrated on her chakra. She mumbled the name of the summoning technique, and after feeling a rather decent tug on both her chakra and that of the Nibi, a burst of smoke appeared in front of her.

She came face to face with herself, as she was warned. However, she had never seen one of her Lightning Clones actually looking both as pleased and surprised as this one was.

"Ohhh... so it worked, nya?"

Yugito blinked and stared; her mouth was agape at the verbal tic added to the end of the sentence. Part of her was completely embarrassed as she did not believe she would ever talk like that, but before she could say a thing Naruto had moved over and was already asking the summon a barrage of questions. If it was in fact the Nibi, it wasn't acting anything like she would have expected.

She was now watching herself place her hands over her ears and make a pouting face, one which she believed looked completely out of place.

"Nyaaa! Naruto-samaaaa, too many questions! You're confusing me!"

At that moment everything stopped. Yugito simply stared at her summon, while Naruto likely had an expression much like her own. Even Kitsune appeared to be thrown for a loop, as the look of complete shock on her face gave away whatever she had been thinking.

"Ah, much better!" Nibi nodded and smiled as she spoke, still staring at Naruto, and held up a single finger. "Now, Naruto-sama, one question at a time."

Naruto's jaw moved for a moment, but no sound came out. Finally he let out a little laugh and returned the Nibi's smile. "Why are you calling me Naruto-sama? Just Naruto is fine."

The Nibi shook her head adamantly. "I know all about what you did, and this is my way of expressing my thanks, nya. Besides that, when I felt a bit of your chakra inside the seal, it felt warm, just like Father's was."

The room went silent again. Naruto appeared a little confused, but Yugito and Kitsune were both staring at him. Could it really be as Nibi said? Everyone knew that the Rikudo Sennin created the bijuu, and if Nibi claimed his chakra felt a little bit familiar...

Her train of thought was derailed as Kitsune began speaking, "What Nibi says is the truth, Naruto. I can't believe I didn't notice it before now, but that's likely because I've been sealed in you and your kin for so long I never thought to-"

Kitsune was cut off by Nibi – still looking like Yugito – as the other bijuu crashed into her with a big hug. "Kyuubi-oneesama! Kyuubi-oneesama!"

Yugito didn't know if she could tolerate any more shock to her system today, she was already a nervous wreck about using Naruto's seal, and now each new revelation was like a jolt to her system. Naruto didn't seem to be faring much better, as his mouth was left hanging open as he watched the Nibi-as-Yugito completely glomp Kitsune.

"Oneesama?"

Kitsune's voice was slightly muffled because of the cheering Nibi, and the fact that Yugito was slightly taller than Kitsune so her clone body was causing Kitsune to talk against her shoulder. After the muffled question, Nibi pulled back to look curiously at her 'elder sister'.

"Of course you are, nyan!"

"But you were created before me. Therefore wouldn't you be considered older?"

Yugito watched as her face adopted that same pouty expression again. "Who cares, nya? I was created second, but I got the impression from tou-san that you would be the strongest and smartest of us all. Therefore I can look up to you. Besides..." Nibi's expression turned sour, "I don't want Ichibi-nii to be the oldest. He's insane."

As everyone slowly digested the information, Nibi looked around the room, and her eyes finally settled on her container. Letting out another squeal, Nibi promptly jumped forward and caught Yugito in a large hug. "Yugito-chan! I finally get to see you from out here, nya!"

The blond woman slowly returned the hug as her shock at the current situation slowly disappeared. The Nibi that she talked to on a semi-regular basis was energetic, but not quite this... eccentric.

"H-hi there, Nibi. Are you okay? Did the seal work properly?"

Her clone hopped back a step and gave her a smile and a nod, thumping a fist against her chest. "Yep! It's a little strange, but I'm quickly getting used to it. Oh yeah!"

Nibi turned to face Naruto next, and he involuntarily took a step backwards. He needn't have bothered, however, since the bijuu promptly flew forward and crashed into him. Since he was standing near a wall, this caused his back to be pressed up against it, and he was sandwiched between it and the Nibi.

The blond teen froze completely as he found the surprisingly soft but cold lips of the clone pressed up against his for a few seconds. He made no further movements either as it slowly backed away, giving him what appeared to be a coy smile.

"Did I do that right, nya?"

When no one responded, the clone looked around between everyone in the room. Two of them had expressions of shock, but the third was simply looking agitated.

Kitsune had her eyes narrowed as she looked at the Nibi, who still held Yugito's appearance. "Why did you do that?"

Nibi's head tilted slightly to the side as she looked at Kitsune. "I wanted to thank him for the seal that lets me be out here, nya! Isn't that how you thank a human that you think is cute?"

Before Naruto or Yugito could say anything, Kitsune took the initiative. "How can you say he's cute? He's a human, how can you possibly..."

As her voice trailed off, Nibi laughed lightly and shrugged. "Yugito-chan thought he was pretty handsome, and I agree. I've been in many different containers over the long years and I think like a human now. I've also been sealed a lot longer than you, oneesama. That's why, being in this form with a body that can feel and touch, even if it is muffled..." Nibi let out a long sigh, "It's like a dream come true."

Kitsune snarled, surprising everyone in the room, and then promptly dispelled in a large burst of red smoke. Naruto was more surprised by this action than anything else. As he turned to look at the remaining two occupants, he saw Yugito seemed just as shocked as he was, while Nibi was beginning to look upset.

"I guess I shouldn't have done that, nya?"

Naruto couldn't really do more than slowly shake his head and shrug. "I guess not. I don't know what that was about."

"Really? She seemed pretty upset."

"I don't know," Naruto scratched at the back of his head, looking at the spot where Kitsune had dispelled, "She has told me more than once in the past that she doesn't have human emotions, but she knows how to emulate them. She's been acting a little different lately, but I thought she was just getting used to interacting with other people, err... humans."

He saw two identical faces staring at him with frowns, but slowly the one who he knew was the Nibi began shaking her head slowly.

"Poor oneesama. She was on her own for so long she probably doesn't know or understand. All bijuu were once human. We were the original Jinchuuriki, nya."

There was a burst of smoke before the two shinobi could get a word in... though both of them seemed to be too stunned to say anything, regardless. As the smoke began to clear, a person flew out of the cloud and wrapped their arms around Naruto's waist. The force of impact wasn't much, but it was enough to force Naruto to take a step backward to maintain his balance.

"Naruto-sama!"

Naruto looked down to see a small girl with black hair and deep blue eyes, probably somewhere between ten to twelve that had wrapped her arms around him, and was looking up at his face with a big smile. Naruto had to admit to himself that she looked cute, but the way tufts of her hair stood up at two distinct points on her head made his lips twitch upwards in amusement before he could return the greeting.

"U-uh... Nibi?"

The small girl holding him let out the kind of sigh that belied the age her appearance gave her, "I know what you want to ask. All I remember is that this is what my body looked like before the Rikudou Sennin sealed part of the power he contained within me. Or... well..."

The Nibi was quiet for a moment as she released Naruto, and appeared to be thinking hard about something. "That's not completely accurate. I... faintly remember looking down at my body, and feeling strong. Really, really strong. Father told us some things, gave us instructions too. I don't remember anything else until later, when I woke up in a strange forest that I didn't recognize. I don't know anything about my life before I became this way. I just _knew_ that it was my body that I saw a long time ago. It was kinda far away, so I may have been bigger than this... but being this small is kind of fun too."

During the Nibi's explanation, Yugito managed to back herself over to a chair and literally fell into it. Naruto was too transfixed on what the Nibi was telling him to move an inch. The bijuu were actually human once? Or rather, it seemed as though part of a power that the Rikudou Sennin had was sealed into nine different humans. Apparently there needed to be some kind of container, or focus when the power was split from the Juubi, something to keep the power apart. But he didn't understand what she meant when she claimed to have seen her body.

"I tried to find Father again, nya... but I couldn't. I did find some others that I didn't recognize, and they started to attack me, so I ran. After that, my memories start getting fuzzier until the day I was sealed."

"I'm sorry."

Both the Nibi and Yugito looked at Naruto sharply once he issued his apology. "Why are you sorry, Naruto-sama?"

The teen shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable under the scrutiny. He wasn't completely sure about why he said sorry... he just felt it needed to be said. Kitsune said she had an eidetic memory, but since she was apparently the last of the bijuu, whatever the Rikudou Sennin did to create them he had perfected the process by the time he got to Kyuubi.

"I'm sorry that you became a bijuu, that you got sealed... everything."

The little girl version of the Nibi gave him a beaming smile and hugged him again, but this time he expected it and even returned it slightly. Naruto could have sworn he heard some kind of purring noise come from the girl, but decided against questioning it. There were already enough things to wonder about for one day.

"I'm fine. Father was nice, I don't think he would have made me a bijuu if I didn't want to be." Suddenly the girl separated herself from Naruto and whirled around, facing Yugito.

"Yugito-nee, lets go to a park, nya! I've always wanted to try one of those swingy things!"

While Yugito was obviously stumped, she was still smiling slightly, as if the mental image of a bijuu using a swingset was amusing to her. Instead of immediately replying to the Nibi, however, she looked towards the other blond in the room.

"Sorry to bother you, Naruto, but where is the nearest park?"

"It's not far. I can take you."

"Thanks. By the way, how long is this going to last?"

"It depends on how much chakra you put into the seal, but in case there was a problem I made it so that this one will only last for up to two hours."

Yugito nodded and sighed, brushing loose hairs away from her face as she returned to her feet. "This should be interesting."

Nibi, who had been looking back and forth between them curiously as they talked about her, promptly pumped a fist into the air. "You bet, nya!"

For the first time in Naruto's recent memory, Yugito laughed, even if it did sound forced.

* * *

_Almost Four Months Later_

"I'm home!"

Naruto yelled down the hall, letting Kitsune know he was back, just in case she was home too. It had been a bit of an adjustment, living with someone else, even if that someone else wasn't completely human. It all began shortly after Yugito and the Nibi – who wanted to be called Neko from now on, just like her 'oneesama' – left to return to Kumo.

Both Yugito and Neko had planted one on each of his cheeks at the same time, thanking him profusely for what he did. They were both sure Killer Bee would be very excited to try as well. Meanwhile, Kitsune had watched and tried to remain detached from the whole thing, especially whenever Neko got clingy or called him 'Naruto-sama'.

Kitsune didn't seem surprised to find out that she was once human, or at least that her mind was. Much like Neko, she remembered everything from the moment she woke up in the forest, but their big difference was that she didn't remember a single thing that came before, other than her first and only discussion with their 'Father'. She also had what felt like imprinted instructions in her mind to avoid human civilization unless she needed information about current goings-on. Neko didn't have that imprint.

After their departure, it became obvious even to the normally oblivious Naruto that Kitsune was trying much harder to act 'human' than she had before. Even when he brought it up to her that he had noticed, she had simply stated that since she was likely human before she became a bijuu, it only made sense for her to act the way she was.

He didn't think it did, but knew better than to argue.

"Welcome back."

Snapping from his brief reverie, he turned to look down the hall after depositing his sandals by the door. Opening his mouth to ask about her day, it quickly snapped shut when he saw what she was... or rather wasn't wearing.

The first thing he noticed, actually, was that her hair was down. She never wore it down anymore, it was usually always up in a ponytail. Secondly, he noticed that she filled out that large t-shirt - black with an orange leaf symbol over her chest - in all the right places. Lastly, he noticed that she wasn't wearing any pants. The shirt she had on was long enough to cover her down to about mid-thigh, but otherwise left little to the imagination.

"Haven't I told you about keeping your mouth closed unless you plan on catching something in it?"

He hadn't known his jaw had dropped, so he immediately closed it, causing a 'click' noise to reverberate through his head. At first he was embarrassed, to be caught staring so blatantly. But the smirk that was on her face told him that he did exactly as she expected. Since she wasn't scowling, his 'response' was also likely the correct one.

Her hands moved to her hips, and Naruto found himself strangely transfixed to the movement, and noticed especially how the shirt was hiked up a tiny bit when her fingers pressed the cloth against her skin. Didn't her legs ever _end_?

"Uhhh... nice shirt."

Kitsune replied immediately, without missing a beat, "Why thank you. I just bought it while you were out training yesterday."

Naruto nodded slowly, and had to mentally force himself to look away. Swallowing deeply, he tried to pretend that he was straightening out his sandals by the door. He knew that Kitsune likely saw right through what he was doing right now, but for some reason he didn't care. He didn't deal with embarrassment well.

Luckily he was saved from further embarrassment when Kitsune moved back in the direction from which she arrived – the kitchen. His apartment only had three rooms, so over the last few months of living together he at least thought he had gotten used to seeing Kitsune in various states of undress, all of which were completely unintentional.

Or, well... at least it was unintentional on his part. Even if he knew now that he was oblivious about things regarding women in the past, living with Kitsune had, if anything, made him hyper-aware. He had never known her to do anything without a purpose behind it, and every time he had encountered her, she had just stared at him, as if waiting for what he would do; she cared more for his reaction than the fact that he had almost seen her nude more than once.

Well, technically it was still _his_ body, or at least a shell of one created with chakra that she occupied and molded to look the way she wanted, or so he thought... Naruto tiredly rubbed his hands over his face, it was getting too complicated to really think about.

What happened just a few minutes ago, however... that was completely new. This was the first time she had done something so blatant. The redhead had also started buying clothes about two or three weeks ago - mostly normal outfits, but it was the first things she bought that weren't classified as tools or food. While clothing in general was something recent, this oversized shirt was something new and bold for her.

Almost as a sidenote, Naruto wondered where she stored her clothes. Whenever she dispelled, whatever she was wearing or holding somehow went with her. He hadn't been to visit her in his mindscape since... well... it had probably been close to a year, since they fought Orochimaru. He could have visited the empty cage, he mused, but since it was likely empty of anything but chakra, there wasn't really a point.

Perhaps all of her acquisitions were somehow sealed as well. That was likely the case, since he rarely ever saw any of her clothes lying about. Maybe it would be worth it to go take a look around-

"Naruto?"

Promptly snapped from his musings, the blond realized he was standing still in the hallway, staring at his feet as he thought about things. Quickly looking up, he noticed Kitsune was leaning halfway out of the doorway to the kitchen area, a puzzled yet slightly amused look on her face.

"Huh?"

Kitsune let out a brief noise that sounded very close to a giggle. "'Huh' is all you can say? I was waiting for you in here. Or is the floor really that interesting?"

Trying desperately not to blush again, Naruto shook his head. "No, it isn't. I was just thinking about how much things have changed."

"Oh?" Kitsune sounded genuinely curious, and stepped out from the doorway into the hall again. "Care to elaborate?"

He initially thought of trying to distract her so he wouldn't have to answer the question, but that rarely if ever worked, so he figured the truth was the best bet. If he was lucky, she wouldn't maim him.

"I was just thinking about how you've started buying clothes and wearing things I'd never thought you would ever wear."

"Like this?" Kitsune made a small show of pulling at the lower hem of her overshized shirt for a moment, briefly accentuating her upper body... _assets._ Naruto had a difficult time keeping his focus on her face, which of course she knew, if the absolutely feral grin on her face was any indication. Apparently today was a lucky day, and he would not be killed.

"Yeah, like th- no! I-I mean you're wearing real clothes now, not just transformed ones..." Naruto cleared his throat and tried to walk around the redhead as he moved towards the kitchen, only for her to shift over and stand in front of him. He wasn't sure if he had grown or if she had purposefully changed her height to be shorter than him, but he was now easily a few inches taller than her now. As a result he was able to get a good _unintentional_ look down the loose fitting neck of her shirt as she blocked his path, and he nearly collided with her.

"Trying to get away?"

"No... I was just going to the kitchen, like you asked."

"Without me? That's not very nice."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times as he simply stared incredulously at his companion. She had been smiling a lot more lately, and while that was good and all, if her smile now got any wider it would start to look menacing rather than happy.

He sighed and let his head droop, careful to close his eyes so that he didn't get another eyeful, even if Kitsune was being uncharacteristically cooperative on that front.

"Okay, Kitsune... what's going on?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

Naruto shook his head, keeping his eyes closed, but still gestured at her with his hand. "This... you. You never act like this – not that I'm complaining..."

"So you like it then?"

Naruto was trying to delay opening his eyes for as long as possible, this way he could think about the situation without being distracted. His mind was desperately trying to come up with an appropriate answer, but was drawing blanks. Of course he liked it, what hot blooded teenage male wouldn't? Just finding a good way to say it was the problem, he'd had too many close encounters with Sakura to-

Suddenly, he realized that Kitsune _wasn't_ Sakura, and he seemed to have been unconsciously molding everything he thought about women around his teammate. Deciding to take a chance, even if it was Kitsune, he'd tell her what he thought.

The moment he opened his eyes to say something, he immediately stopped as he realized Kitsune had moved her face to be looking directly up into his. There was barely a handful of centimeters between them. He stopped breathing as he became hyper aware of their closeness, and time itself felt like it slowed down as he examined her facial features. Her eyes were half lidded, though it was still easy enough to see her bright red irises and black slitted pupils. A few loose strands of dark red hair were loose across the front of her face, and he followed them down from her eyes, past the dainty nose, to see her lips.

They glistened slightly, he noticed. Slightly pink, not very puffy or pouty or any of those other words he'd read that were used to describe models' lips when he was trying to come up with the best look for his female form. They were just... her. Finding himself surprisingly short on words, he decided to take a gamble and go for it.

Leaning forward and moving down slightly, he let his eyes drift closed and pressed his lips against hers. They were surprisingly soft and warm, though he wasn't sure what to expect considering he wasn't exactly kissing a human, but it did immediately register that it was nothing like when Neko kissed him. Any futher thoughts were fleeting, however, as Kitsune almost immediately began pressing her lips back against his own.

Naruto's hands began to move on their own, moving forward a bit to settle on her slender hips. Her own hands had since come up and began fisting in his hair as he felt her lips open against his; a wet tongue began flicking against his mouth as if teasing, asking for entry. He began to comply, only for Kitsune's hands to leave his head and quickly move down to his shoulders, then push him back and away from her.

The blond stood there, staring at a wide-eyed Kitsune, and noticed that both of them were breathing heavily. Her skin had taken on a reddish hue, and a more knowledgeable part of his brain that was still working realized that she was actually _flushed._ Something else in his brain clicked, realizing that it wasn't possible for clones to blush because they didn't haveblood, but it was immediately pushed to the side in favor of more pressing matters.

"Kit-Kitsune... I..."

Before he could say what his mind was thinking, the flustered-looking redhead promptly dispelled in a flash of dull, reddish-hued smoke.

As Naruto stood there and continued to stare at the spot where Kitsune had just dispelled from, he began to rub his forehead as he realized that things may have just gotten very complicated.

* * *

_Three weeks later..._

"Are you okay, Kitsune?"

The redhead nodded, almost listlessly, as she placed another of many patient files in its appropriate spot. "I believe so, why?"

Her... friend, she supposed, looked at her with bright green eyes, the corners of her mouth ever so slightly twitching down. "You've been awfully quiet this past week. Normally you're asking all kinds of questions."

Placing the last file where it belonged, she closed the cabinet drawer and turned to face her pink-haired companion. Sakura was right, normally she was the one hunting the other girl down within the hospital, acting as little more than a gopher and glorified messenger, throwing in occasional questions about life too. When she wasn't on a mission, that is.

Sakura wasn't the only one she asked questions to, of course. The other girls, and even occasionally boys got their fair share. There were some she enjoyed talking with or listening to more than others as well, which only fueled her understanding that each human was in fact very different.

She knew Sakura tolerated her presence, and they had perhaps at best a temulous friendship. Strangely enough, they had only really started warming up to each other this last week, while Naruto was away at Mount Myoboku. Doing training to become a Sage, supposedly. Naruto wanted her there, but the frogs didn't in case she proved to be a 'distraction'. She was inclined to agree, barely – if only because Jiraiya losing his arm while investigating Rain Country would be enough of a distraction to Naruto.

As for the others she had chatted with, she tried to avoid Ino and Kiba. Ino would talk nonstop, even if she didn't really care what the human girl was talking about. Kiba on the other hand didn't really talk, but he smelled so oppressively of _dog_ that it nearly overwhelemed her senses, and he kept staring at her whenever Naruto wasn't around. He probably thought she didn't notice, but she did. The new part of her emotions that she was discovering, or perhaps rediscovering, felt she should be flattered – but another part of her felt strangely dirty because it wasn't the person she wanted looking at her.

Hinata wasn't much of a conversationalist, and tended to simply answer questions quickly and quietly. The only person she had ever noticed the other girl speaking to regularly was her Jounin sensei, Kurenai. The same could be said of her teammate Shino, though if possible he spoke even less. About the most she had gotten out of him to date was that his bugs didn't like to go anywhere near her, which suited her just fine.

Choji was another that didn't really talk much either, unless it was to Shikamaru. As for the shadow user... if there ever was anyone who was the antithesis of Naruto, it was him. Lazy as could be, but incredibly brilliant. She started thinking about what Naruto might be like if he had Skikamaru's intelligence, but was interrupted when Sakura began talking to her again.

"It's about Naruto, isn't it?"

Kitsune's head whipped around so fast that Sakura thought she might have potentially broken her own neck. "What made you come to that conclusion?"

Sakura was clearly smirking. "Your reaction just now, for one. On the other hand, you've been getting quieter and quieter since he left to go train with the toads. I thought you could talk to each other in your heads?"

Ktisune stared at Sakura briefly, before frowning slightly and shifting her attention back to the files. They had been avoiding each other ever since their... encounter. They would still talk about everyday, mundane things, but there was something wrong with her and she was trying to figure out what it was. Unfortunately he was called away before she could, and she realized that it was making her miserable.

"He's too far away. The further apart we are, the longer it takes our messages to reach the other. Even just across the village causes about a five minute delay. The delay grows exponentially with the distance, and it probably can't break into summon realms. I've been sending messages every day since he's been gone, and haven't gotten a reply yet."

Sakura knew that Naruto wasn't the type of person who wouldn't reply to a message, especially from Kitsune, so she didn't even bother offering any 'what if' scenarios. Trying to think of something to say to cheer up the other woman, her thought process was interrupted as she heard a muffled booming noise and the floor under her feet shook slightly.

Without a word, both Kitsune and Sakura jumped into action, rushing down to the lobby in preparation for any arrivals. Even though Kitsune wasn't qualified to heal, she was still perfectly capable of assisting with smaller tasks. Before they were halfway to their destination, however, there was another explosion that was closer this time. The floor lurched worse this time, and both of them could barely keep their balance.

"We're under attack!"

Sakura's exclamation went unneeded, as a staccato of booms followed. The explosions were brief but sounded like they were spread out all across the village – they were undoubtedly being attacked by someone. Kitsune quickly regained her footing and continued moving towards the lobby, only to have her wrist grabbed by Sakura, stopping her. The redhead glanced back and down at the other girl, who was down on one knee and looking up at her with a steely expression.

"Kitsune, can you warn Naruto?"

The redhead simply stared at the other girl for a moment with a deadpan expression, while listening to the rumbles in the background. "I thought I already told you that I can't talk to him from this far away?"

Sakura bit her lower lip, and looked away for a moment before sighing and looking back up at the bijuu again, her expression pained. "What would happen if you released your summon?"

Kitsune pondered that for a moment. Honestly, she had never really considered it. There was no reason for her to release before, no matter how lonely she was without Naruto around.

Not that she'd ever admit that to anyone, even Naruto himself. Oh sure, there were others in his age group that she had hung out with from time to time, but they were _his_ friends first, not hers. Some of them probably looked to her as a friend now, but many of their more juvenile interests were not something that entertained her. Not that Naruto was the pinnacle of entertainment either, but the blond was... comfortable.

Bringing thoughts back to their current situation, she sent a sharp look at the back of Sakura's head, who was now dragging her down the hallway.

"I don't know what will happen if I dispel, or how long it will take me to get back to Naruto. Since I am technically here through a summon technique, it should work in the same way, and I'll instantly appear back in the seal."

Sakura had stopped pulling her along, and turned to look over her shoulder. "Do you want to try? Is it too risky?"

"Hmm.."

Was it risky? Perhaps... anything unknown was technically a risk. It was risky for Naruto to summon her the first time over a year ago. But look what she... no, they had gained as a result. Naruto had given her a home, as strange as that thought was. She had always wandered for as long as she could remember until being sealed away. Now that Naruto had freed her as best he was able at the moment... others had given her many chances to be _normal_... she would take that risk.

For his home. For their home. For _her_ home.

Sakura tripped slightly as the wrist she was holding suddenly disappeared with a soft popping noise. Turning aroung quickly, she noted the traces of reddish-hued smoke that was rapidly disappearing.

"Good luck Kitsune. Hurry back... both of you."

* * *

Next:

"Naruto... open your heart to me! I want to help take away your pain!"

* * *

A/N: So it's been a while since I've actually posted anything, even though I have been working in the background. I've been periodically updating my profile page, anyone that has visited recently may have noticed.

I've been working a lot on a story called Rewritten, it will be one of my shorter ones, but was one that was bugging me to get written, so like all things I've written so far... when the muse calls, I follow. I'm trying to get it done ASAP so I can just post like a chapter a week when the whole thing is done. I originally wanted to do that with this... but like most of my stories, the plot bunnies would not stop and it snowballed into a monster. A monster that probably only has another 5 or so chapters at most (don't quote me) but a monster nonetheless.

Anyway, because so much happened when Naruto was 16 and I wanted to give you all something to let you know I'm still alive, I'm posting this in two chapters. It's still a decent length, and the next chapter should be about the same length.

As always, thanks to Denim88 for being the beta.


	9. Sixteen, Part Two

**Age Sixteen - Part Two**

_Approximately forty-five minutes later..._

Naruto was staring at the inside of his hands, wondering where he was, and more importantly why his hands were covered in blood. Or maybe it was ink? It was too dark to tell.

Exactly whose blood it was or where the ink came from didn't really concern him at the moment. All he knew was that he was in a lot of pain. It wasn't from the seiza position he was currently seated in either. While it might have had something to do with it, the strong ache was too much for it to be just that.

_Do you think you understand pain?_

Considering how much it hurt right now, he was pretty sure he did.

**Na... can y... me Nar...**

Strange. There was another voice. It was muffled though.

_Hatred spreads too easily. Do you know of a way to stop the hatred?_

No, he didn't. If there was a way, he wasn't aware of it. All he was doing was minding his own business, training in the sage arts when he was suddenly recalled to Konoha because it was under attack. He had managed to get back in time to prevent the total destruction of the village, but the damage was obvious from where he appeared. Rubble and bodies littered the streets. Thanks to Sage Mode he was able to identify that most of his closest friends were safe, but some he couldn't detect at all.

Kakashi. Shizune. Tsunade was fluctuating wildly.

**Naru... lis... idiot, yo... up!**

The voice was back. Strange. Unfortunately the pain wracking his body was only getting worse. He tried to focus on the voice that had spoken, but it was to no avail. Suddenly there was an intense burning in his gut, and looking down with dead eyes he noticed as the seal around his navel appeared to open and started bleeding in earnest.

_How do you plan to bring peace if you cannot stop hatred and pain?_

"I don't know!" Naruto shouted to no-one. Throwing his head back, he groaned as more pain wracked his body. It was quickly becoming unbearable, like red-hot irons pushing against his very soul as the rest of his mortal body was stripped away.

His head tossing back and forth, Naruto scrunched up his eyes in an effort to keep the tears at bay. It may have seemed silly since no one was around to actually see him cry, but he still didn't want to. His life had been enough of an emotional roller coaster lately.

"Someone... anyone... tell me what to do..." he groaned out. "I'm so lost..."

"Naruto."

The feminine voice made him open his eyes, but it was a cool touch that grasped both of his hands which made him face forward and look at what was going on.

The hands themselves were strong but gentle on his. They were attached to arms, which were in turn attached to a feminine body that was wearing an outfit he vaguely recalled seeing a while back. He tried to focus on where he remembered it from, but there was still too much pain for him to-

The cool grasp moved from his hands to his head, as he felt fingers brush through his hair around his ears. With a soft jerking motion, his head was brought forward to look straight into another face. It was one that he faintly recognized; rather regal looking with red, arching eyebrows, a small nose and dainty lips that were currently tilted downwards in what appeared to be a worried frown. What he focused on the most, however was the eyes. Bright red eyes with black crescent pupils that were staring back at him, trying to convey things he couldn't even begin to fathom in his current state.

"Naruto! Open your heart to me! Let me take away your pain!"

He thought he understood what her loud, forceful voice was saying, but it wasn't until her eyes flashed...

The moment they did, he took a deep, gasping breath before shuddering from head to toe. With a deep groan, he opened and closed his eyes a few times, then inhaled once again.

"Ki-Kitsune?" The name came as both a question and a statement in a breathy whisper.

"Naruto. Can you understand me now?"

If the blond was at all surprised by the concern in her voice, he didn't show it. "Y-Yeah. I think so. What's... what's going on? The last thing I clearly remember... was Hinata..."

Kitsune snorted. "You saved the village from complete destruction and managed to lure Pain away so he didn't destroy it completely. The girl should have remained back like everyone else and not follow you and Pain into the forest. When she claimed to love you and then was stabbed, it triggered your rage. You stopped listening to me and all I could feel from you was kill... kill... kill."

The chastisement did what Kitsune intended, and a look of guilt clearly flashed upon Naruto's face.

"That doesn't matter anymore though. What does matter is that my power is running rampant in your body because you're not there to guide it, and I'm stuck here behind the seal. My chakra is simply following your last impulse... to try to kill Pain. But from what I can tell it isn't having much luck without guidance. If you don't wake up soon, we'll be captured."

Kitsune finally released his head and leaned back slightly. "Are you ready? I've separated your consciousness so that you could talk to me and wouldn't suffer from the pain your body is feeling."

The blond went wide-eyed for a moment before managing to choke out, "I... I don't know if I'm ready." He looked away, avoiding what he knew was most likely disappointment in Kitsune's eyes.

"Why not?"

Naruto wasn't sure he heard her correctly, but he must have because when he did finally manage to work up the courage to look at her again, she was staring at him with what he interpreted as passive curiosity. She was sitting down in the now-clear shallow water around them. Looking down at himself he noticed that the seal around his navel still looked like it was open, but his hands and clothes were somehow no longer drenched in the bloody ink. It was hard to focus on anything beyond the immediate area; the only lighting was rather faint and it was centered around the two of them... there was too much darkness and visibility dropped off sharply beyond a couple feet from where they were located.

Looking at the redhead sitting across from him, he realized that he still owed her an answer. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before starting.

"I know you're slowly learning about emotions... well, lately mine have been all over the place. I think it began right about the time we shared that... that kiss."

Naruto glanced at her once again to see what kind of reaction she would have, but other than a slight raise of an eyebrow, the redhead said nothing. He groaned internally about how she could remain so detached about what was generally considered an intimate gesture. Instead of saying anything to him, she simply motioned with her hand for him to continue.

"I was torn up and didn't know what to do when you disappeared, and then the next time I summoned you it was as if nothing had happened. Did you like it? Did you not? Were you just as confused as I was? When I tried to ask, the subject was changed. The second time I asked I thought you were getting angry so I didn't try again."

Naruto shifted his position out of the seiza as he talked, and into something more comfortable... sitting cross-legged on the ground. His hands idly played with the shallow water which came up to about mid-thigh.

"In a rather short string of events after that, I nearly lost my godfather Jiraiya, then I was dragged off to train in the Sage arts, only to be brought back early because my home was under attack by Akatsuki. I get back to see buildings destroyed all over, and while I'm fighting one of my friends tells me she loves me - only to get stabbed. Now... here I am. In the middle of this Pain is telling me he wants to bring peace by using all the bijuu as a peacekeeping force, and when I tell him that's the wrong way to go about it he asks me if I know a better way.

"I don't," Naruto moaned, rubbing his forehead, "But it's not exactly like I've had time to think about it either. Pain doesn't seem willing to sit around while I come up with an answer."

Kitsune nodded and let out a humming noise. "Then you need to defeat him to give yourself the time you need."

"But how?" Naruto questioned, obviously exasperated. "I've been using Sage Mode and he's still winning!"

"You've only really known how to use it for a couple days at most, right? I don't know what you were expecting."

Naruto let out a sigh as he covered his face with his hands.

"There is something else we can do..." Kitsune ventured. "I don't know how well it would work though."

"You... you know something I can do?" He immediately removed his hands, and began to stare at the bijuu expectantly.

"Yes, though like I said, I don't know how well it would work. It might be risky to do it now, and... well..."

Kitsune turned her head to look over her shoulder at something he couldn't see. "I don't know if you trust me enough to try."

"I trust you."

Kitsune immediately turned her head back to Naruto, obviously surprised. "Y-you do? But-"

"I've known you for over half my life. With how much you've helped me so far, I trust you more than anyone else."

If the redhead had to be honest with herself, she wasn't too sure what to think at the moment. Kitsune felt... well, she wasn't entirely sure what it was she was feeling – it felt good, though, and that was probably all that really mattered. Preparing herself for immediate rejection, she offered the only way out of this explanation that she could think of.

"You need to open the seal."

Naruto simply stared at her for a moment. After several moments of staring at each other, Kitsune was about ready to call the idea a bust... however...

"Alright."

She was shocked, and it must have shown because he did one of his silly 'I bet I just surprised you, didn't I?' lopsided grins that both amused and annoyed her.

"If you're sure," Kitsune began. "The sooner we get it open, the better... when you first got here you were at six tails. I think now you're at about eight."

Naruto looked slightly panicked. Jumping up and making a splash, he began looking around. "We should hurry then. Where are we anyway?"

"Right outside the seal. I just had to isolate your consciousness to be able to talk to you away from the pain. When I release it, this form of mine will probably disappear like last time. So you'll have to make it to the seal on your own. You'll probably be in pain again, too."

The blond looked a little queasy at that thought, but slowly nodded his head regardless. Smiling grimly, Kitsune climbed to her feet and moved closer to him, before reaching up and grabbing the sides of his head again. "I'm going to release your consciousness. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be. Let's do this."

Kitsune closed her eyes, concentrating, and Naruto felt as if a large weight settled on his shoulders. Right after that the burning sensation started throughout his body again, but it didn't feel nearly as painful as before.

"From the look on your face, you're wondering why it doesn't hurt as much as before."

"Err... yeah?"

It was Kitsune's turn to grin as she removed her hands from the side of his head again. "My power was consuming you from the inside out as you were losing control. Now that you're focused again, it will stop."

Not really knowing what to say to something like that, Naruto nodded before looking around again. They were in the room with the seal, and he could see it clear as day.

"Naruto... I should warn you that there may be some backlash, especially since you don't have the key. We'll be forcing the lock so I don't know what will happen."

"I do have the key, actually... the toads gave it to me while I was training. The Toad Sage had a vision that I would need it soon. It looks like he was right."

Kitsune's avatar was simply staring at him incredulously. She didn't say anything further either as he jumped, lifting up into the air at a sort of slow glide towards where the seal was located. As he approached, he realized that the lock was much bigger than it looked – it was nearly the size of his torso. With a grunt of exertion, he tugged at the top of the seal and started to pull down -

- completely ripping the seal off. Letting the overly large piece of paper flutter to the ground below him, the blond inspected the the spiral shaped lock that was behind it. It was definitely a lot more complex than just the spiral that was facing him, but somehow he seemed to know just what to do to unlock it properly. He likely had the key to thank for that.

Making a claw-shape with his right hand, he began to move it towards his navel... only for someone to grab his wrist, halting any further movement.

"Wha-?"

"Are you sure you want to do that, Naruto?"

The voice was one he didn't immediately recognize. Following the arm attached to the hand, the first thing his eyes focused on was the white coat. After that, the gaze quickly shifted up, settling on a mature man with sharp features, clear blue eyes, and spiky blond hair. It only took him a second to identify who it was – his picture was plastered in every Academy textbook that mentioned the Third War.

Contrary to popular belief, he did open his books from time to time when he was in school.

"Dad? Wh- how?"

Minato graced his son with a small smile. "Hey, Naruto." Releasing his son's wrist, he moved his hand over to the teen's shoulder, slowly but deliberately leading him away from the seal.

The older blond glanced down at the redhead who was still visible and looking up at them. Closing his eyes for a moment, he lifted his free hand and snapped his fingers.

Naruto and Kitsune both took an involuntary step back as the area immediately shifted from in front of the large cage to a vast expanse of whiteness. Not only that, but whereas Kitsune had been rather far below them before, she was now directly across from the both of them.

"I brought us all here so that we could talk without any distractions at all." The Yondaime glanced over at the redhead. "Kitsune, I'm using my chakra to keep your form stable so you don't disappear in the middle of the conversation."

While Kitsune was staring at the man rather warily, Naruto was beginning to get worked up. "Dad! Dad! I thought you were dead? How did you get here?"

While Minato looked happy, he couldn't stop a small frown off of his face. "I am dead, Naruto. I put what was left of my chakra in the seal, so that I could perform an emergency sealing again, if it was needed. I only exist as spiritual energy right now, so once I've done what I have to do I'll be gone forever. I don't have a physical part to help me regenerate anymore. I'm sorry."

Naruto couldn't help but feel tears prickle at the corner of his eyes. Instead of outright crying he merely sniffled, then wiped at his eyes. "So why are you here now, then?"

Glancing back and forth between the other two, Minato gestured at Kitsune. "I put myself here as a failsafe in case Kitsune was still acting like the Kyuubi that everyone knew and was going to try to take over when you were weak."

Kitsune was staring intensely at the man as he turned to her. "But, it seems like the Kyuubi that I once knew no longer exists. Or maybe never really did for that matter."

With a shake of his head and a small smile, the Yondaime Hokage remnant leaned forward into a slight bow. "For what it's worth, Kitsune, I'm sorry for sealing you away again. I've been watching you interact with my son for a long time, and while part of me is guilty, another part is glad I did. Thank you for helping him when he needed it the most."

Both Naruto and Kitsune were obviously stunned, though Naruto was the first to manage to pull himself out of the short-lived stupor. As Minato stood back up straight again, Kitsune shot a quick glance at the younger blond before nodding and even returning a bit of a bow, though hers was much more rigid.

"I... I am also sorry for taking your lives early. Otherwise..." Kitsune's mouth opened and closed a few times, obviously at a loss.

Minato simply grinned. "In a situation like this it is okay to say thank you. I'm thanking you for your apology, though it is not necessary. Kushina and I were both going to die anyway. You simply cut short what was inevitable."

"T-Thank you." Kitsune looked away and hugged herself, definitely uncomfortable with the entire situation. Chuckling, Minato turned back to his son. "Naruto, I'm sorry the way things turned out. I wish your mother or I could have been there for you, but things happened so fast there wasn't really any time for planning."

Naruto nodded slowly, but frowned. "What did happen, anyway? Other than when she first explained it, Kitsune never really wants to talk about it." When the mentioned bijuu shot him a sharp glance, he immediately backtracked, "I don't blame her for anything, of course. It was a pretty bad night."

"Unfortunately, I don't have the amount of chakra I'd need to explain, not if I'm going to fix your seal."

"What?" Naruto exclaimed. "Why would you want to fix the seal?"

"Because no matter what the intentions are, it's best to practice working with Kitsune under more controlled circumstances. Besides that, I sealed away what was left of your mother's chakra too, so she'll appear when that time finally comes."

"Mom is here too? Awesome!" Naruto couldn't help but cheer. It was contagious too as Minato laughed lightly, and even Kitsune's lips twitched upwards a bit.

"Yes she is. She'll be able to explain things to you and probably talk to you a lot as well, especially since she still had a _lot_of chakra left."

Naruto blinked, for some reason hearing that made a new idea randomly appear in his head. "Hey, dad... could I take yours and mom's chakra and put it into a shadow clone, like I've been doing with Kitsune?"

While the redhead once again gave him a sharp glance, Minato simply gave him a faint smile. "You could, but unfortunately I don't have the chakra left to last very long, and like I said before... my chakra won't regenerate because I don't have a physical body. I'm just here to fix the seal. Sorry, again."

Naruto let his head droop as he sighed.

"Now your mother... she might have some ideas. She was the genius at sealing, anyway. I'm sure between her and Kitsune they might be able to think of something. Her original purpose was to teach you how to use the Kyuubi's power, but since I think Kitsune will be more than willing..."

Minato trailed off, casting a glance at the redhead nearby, who was ignoring him and staring at the once-again excited Naruto.

"Anyway, you can check with your mother when the time comes. Now, before I have too little chakra left... you know what you need to do?"

"I need to beat Pain, but nothing I'm doing is working."

"Oh, it's working," Minato affirmed. "Remember, everyone other than perhaps jinchuuriki run out of power sometime. As long as you can keep yourself out of Pain's grasp, he'll eventually run out of chakra. That's when you move in to stop him."

"Are you sure? He just seems like he can keep going on forever."

His father chuckled. "Trust me. I've even seen Sarutobi-sama and Jiraiya-sensei run out of chakra. Even if he doesn't for some reason, you're my son. I believe that you can handle him, _and _find that path to peace you're looking for."

Naruto couldn't help but grin as his father placed a hand on his head and rubbed it, gently.

"Now," Minato started, getting serious once again, "I'm going to fix the seal. You'd better make a plan fast, because it won't be long before you wake up on the outside when I'm done."

"Got it. I think I have a plan already. It will just be a bit tricky to pull off."

"Good. Here goes nothing." Pulling up the sleeve on his right arm, Minato made a quick one-handed sign, then put his hand into a claw-shape like Naruto had done earlier. Moving his fingers so they hovered above the runic script, he quickly turned his wrist in a counter-clockwise direction, closing the loosened seal.

Almost immediately, Minato began to fade, as did Kitsune. He almost panicked before remembering that it was his father's chakra that was enabling Kitsune to even be there with them at the time.

"Naruto, continue with your shinobi way and doing what you believe in. I have faith you'll find the answer to your problem soon. I love you."

Before Naruto could say anything in response, his father turned to look at Kitsune, who now simply had a rather blank look on her face. "Kitsune... thank you for everything. It may be a selfish request on my part, but please be with Naruto as long as you can. I think you're both good for each other."

Looking back to his son again, Minato waved, then disappeared in a brief flash of light. Naruto was a little disappointed that he didn't get to say a proper goodbye, but didn't have a chance to dwell on it as Kitsune disappeared right after. The place he was located in began to change to black and get darker until he couldn't see his hand in front of his face anymore.

The moment he blinked, however, he woke back up in the real world outside of his mind. He was standing upside down on what appeared to be a very large rock that was... hovering in the sky?

"Holy shit!"

**Now is not the time to be shocked, Naruto. Pain has the powers of the Sage of Six Paths, as you know. One of the old man's abilities was to use gravity manipulation to form large objects.**

_Really? Oh man, that sounds awesome!_

**I'm sure our opinions on the matter will differ. Anyway, summon me... I have a plan.**

…

**Naruto?**

_I won't do it._

**What? Why not? You need me out there!**

_No I don't. I can do this. Dad believes in me. I won't let him or anyone else down. I don't want Pain knowing that I can summon you, either._

**Again, I ask why not?**

_Because I know there are ways to keep summons from returning to the Summon Realm. Pain also has one of those guys that can pull souls out of bodies. I don't want that to happen to you._

**Naruto... I...**

_You don't need to say anything. I'll protect you until the day I die. That's a promise._

Kitsune didn't reply after that, and Naruto knew he was standing still long enough to be able to wrap some natural chakra around himself. He could literally feel himself relax as the chakra settled around his own, buffering and boosting his own considerable skills. Looking down as the smoke finally began to clear around him, he spotted Pain on the ground below, staring right back up.

**What do you need me to do?**

The blond almost jumped, but managed to contain it to a twitch. He wasn't expecting Kitsune to talk again, let alone offer to help him directly however he wanted it.

_I have an idea. I think I can get him, but I have two, maybe three shots before I run out of natural chakra. Your chakra didn't like it before when the toads tried to merge with me to help me generate natural chakra. Do you think you can do it?_

**My original form was that of a force of nature. What do you think?**

_Then can you please generate natural chakra for me while I'm fighting him? As long as I have enough, I'm sure I can finish this fight really fast._

**Very well. Ready when you are**.

A feral grin appeared on Naruto's face. With Kitsune helping him now, this was going to be easy. Almost too easy.

* * *

_Three days later..._

Kitsune tilted her head to the side slightly as she examined the kitchen of their new apartment, trying to make it more liveable. While she wasn't one-hundred percent certain of the best ways to decorate, having spent plenty of time with the other female humans of Naruto's generation, she had a plethora of good ideas.

It felt nice to use her eidetic memory to do something constructive, for a change. Actually, doing something constructive in general brought quite a few sensations to the fore that she didn't really ever recall experiencing previously. The main one was satisfaction, or that's what Naruto believed it was.

Then again, the last couple days since the attack, she had been feeling plenty of new yet familiar emotions.

Satisfaction; having decorated their new apartment. Knowing that effort was put into the creation of something, and then seeing it complete made her feel... happy. She got a new appreciation for why humans fought so hard for things they owned.

Anger; while it was something that she was already familiar with, Naruto knocked over the table and plant near the entrance to demonstrate what satisfaction was by ruining something she had created. He used one emotion to explain another, which she believed was rather clever... for him, anyway.

Content; watching Naruto sleep and feeling that all was right with the world, at least for a few fleeting moments. As a chakra construct inhabiting a clone, she didn't ever really sleep. It was mostly meditation for the purpose of accelerated chakra regeneration. Lately she had taken to slipping into bed with him after he had fallen asleep to watch him more closely.

Embarrassment; she'd never tell him she slipped into his bed after he fell asleep. Not for a long time, if she could help it..

Jealousy; being so close to Naruto during the fight with Pain... now she had hardly seen much of him at all over the last three days because he was helping out all over the village doing repairs. By the time he returned to their home he was always tired and they barely had any time to talk before he was falling asleep.

The redhead sighed as she sat down on the couch in their new guest room. They had to get a new one as the old building Naruto lived in had been mostly destroyed by Pain's attack. It was the same over quite a lot of the village, many people had set up camps outside the walls as the interior was reconstructed. While the damage was great, they were lucky that it was mostly consolidated in specific areas instead of widespread.

Their new apartment was one that had been built within the last two years on part of the old Uchiha property which had been auctioned off. The owner had offered Naruto a place to stay, free of charge, as thanks for saving the village. At first the blond was hesitant to accept anything for free, not sure what to think – but when other offers for free items - from houses to clothing to weapons to food - began coming in, he graciously accepted the apartment and turned away everything else.

A small smile grew on her face when she recalled once again that the owner had pegged her as Naruto's girlfriend, sending the blond into an apologetic fit, trying to claim that he didn't really know if that's what they were. When she didn't try to refute what the owner had said, Naruto simply stared at her for a while, as if he wasn't sure why she wasn't disagreeing. The only thing she was really feeling at the time was amusement, though she couldn't really place her finger on exactly why.

In regards to her jealousy, Kitsune had come to understand over time that she was rather possessive. While she had never really considered herself to be very territorial, when she got angry and nearly attacked the blond after he knocked over the table and plant the other day... he had to quickly explain what it meant before she had a chance to harm him. Calming down as she listened, he explained several things she vaguely remembered... but the redhead unfortunately had no way to identify the feelings behind them. There was one thing that was very clear in her mind, though.

Naruto was hers. The explanations of possessiveness, jealousy, contentedness... they all finally made sense when put into that one particular context.

She had been with him since birth. He had given her freedom and wanted her as a friend, rather than as a source of power. He treated her as a partner during their fight with Pain. He wanted to protect her... which was something that had only ever happened to her one time before, when she was created. It was the feeling that the Sage of Six Paths had left her with, the idea that if she hid she would be protected. Naruto was 'home' to her, in the most pure sense. More than a physical place, she felt comforted by his mere presence.

With startling clarity the redhead understood that she wasn't thinking about him as a mere human anymore, but there was no denying that they weren't of the same species. As a chakra construct, she could do things with her power that many humans could only dream of, but at the same time it limited her to something she found herself starting to understand and want. A relationship.

When working in the hospital, she had found the Hokage's first apprentice, Shizune, to be a very patient and understanding individual. The dark haired woman had taken quite a lot of time out of her busy schedule to explain all the emotions Kitsune had been feeling, particularly the ones towards Naruto. It was through Shizune that she was able to understand she actually _liked_ him. All the signs were there but she needed outside, _mostly _indifferent help to figure that out.

Kitsune's sudden comprehension didn't change anything between the two of them, though it did make her pay more attention to the blond than she normally did... at least before he was dragged away for Sage training. Now that he was back and participating in the reconstruction, she realized that she had desires to see him more often, and that her jealousy about it was increasing on a daily basis.

While Kitsune didn't think of herself as being extraordinarily clever, she knew she was highly intelligent, and believed that Naruto had become what she would consider 'comfortable' around her. When examining human females and their interaction with males, there were quite a few things they were able to do to garner attention from the male they were interested in which she had gleaned from observing their interactions and reading their somewhat-interesting thin books that they called magazines.

She had put her information to the test shortly before he left for training, and it appeared as though it worked well. He was very obviously interested, though he looked incredibly nervous about the whole thing. She had tried to see how far she could push him by getting as close as she could, and had definitely not expected that kiss. The redhead still didn't know what to think about it, as she had been testing the attributes of the clone she occupied at the same time, and it had felt... odd. Not a bad odd, just...

A knocking at the door interrupted her thoughts. Slowly rising from the couch, she casually moved over to the door, trying to sense the presence at the entrance. She could tell that whoever it was had an average-size core... nothing spectacular. It likely wasn't anyone overly important.

Once she opened the door, however, one of her delicate eyebrows arched up slightly. "You're one of the last people I ever expected to be here."

The chunin standing near the entrance to Naruto and her apartment merely gave her a lazy shrug, before covering his mouth as he yawned. "It's nice to see you too, Kitsune-san. A bunch of us are gathering together to discuss a topic of some importance, and I was volunteered to come get you. Interested?"

Kitsune stared at the young man in front of her. Shikamaru was one that never did anything without a reason, she knew. The curiosity about what could be important enough that the chunin came to get her overrode any dismissal she might have voiced otherwise.

"Will Naruto be there?" Kitsune asked as she stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

"Of course." Shikamaru looked at her, one of his own eyebrows temporarily raising. "We were both talking with Hokage-sama, and she sent me on ahead to gather a few people while Naruto grabs the others."

"He didn't come get me?" Kitsune felt something... she wasn't sure what, but it definitely wasn't pleasant. It made her frown, which her companion definitely noticed.

"Your apartment is on the way to where we are meeting. I said I'd get you while he can use his clones to get everyone else."

The redhead nodded, but the frown remained. Naruto could have sent a clone to get everyone else, while coming here to get her too. Was the Nara up to something? Not saying anything further, Shikamaru shrugged then turned around, waving over his shoulder for her to follow. She did, falling into step a few paces behind him.

The journey to wherever it was they were headed was a quiet one. Then again, not much needed to be said, since everyone knew of Naruto's participation in stopping the invasion, and somehow convincing Nagato to bring everyone that he killed back to life. She still wasn't entirely sure how he managed to convince the member of Akatsuki to do that... but he did it.

All around them were signs of construction, not to mention the sounds. The smell of fresh timber and concrete was heavy in the air, and occasionally she would spot a ninja using a technique that was suited for construction – generally of the earth and water variety. She had even spotted a few of Naruto's clones out among the populace, doing what they could to help out. One thing was for certain, manpower would never be in short supply.

A few more minutes of slow walking and they arrived at what appeared to be a resource stocking area, as there were large piles of lumber, various tools, and other construction objects scattered about. The group appeared to be everyone from Naruto's graduating generation, as well as Team Gai.

"It's about time you showed up!"

That was Kiba, looking down from where he was sitting on one of the large lumber piles, Akamaru laying down next to him.

"I wasn't in any hurry. Besides, it gave time for everyone else to get here." Shikamaru barely spared Kiba a glance before looking over his shoulder at Kitsune, gesturing for her to step ahead of them and join the others in the area.

Nodding, she moved over to the side of one of the stacks of wood and stood by it, apart from everyone else, but yet still together with the group. Taking a quick look around, she saw Sakura sitting on a pile of carved stone nearby, and sent the girl a very small lopsided grin when the redhead saw that the other girl was looking at her too.

Once Sakura nodded at her, she continued to look around the rest of the area. Lee and Tenten were both sitting on one of the other stacks of wood, while Neji was standing slightly in front of them with his arms crossed over his chest, looking bored. Ino was standing opposite from where Kitsune had entered, talking quietly to the surprisingly still-alive Sai, who was not saying anything and staring at her with the same smile he gave everyone.

Shino was standing next to the tall pile of lumber that Kiba was on, hands in his pockets and not moving, as usual. Hinata was a few steps away from him. As her glance passed the pale-eyed girl, Hinata looked away, her hands fidgeting. They hadn't talked since Hinata had professed her love for Naruto, but if that reaction was any indication, she was dreading any conversation they might have.

The redhead had no idea if Naruto talked to Hinata yet, as she wasn't really privy to his affairs anymore when her consciousness wasn't in the seal, so if he didn't tell her she wouldn't know. That hadn't been a problem so far, but she might just end up pestering him about this if Hinata couldn't meet her eyes.

Voices talking – one of which she recognized well – got closer, only for her to see Chouji and the real Naruto walk around the corner and into the storage area. They stopped talking about whatever it was as they got closer, both of them taking on a more serious countenance. Chouji nodded at Shikamaru, who was still standing by the entrance, and moved over to stand next to Ino, greeting both her and Sai quietly.

Naruto, to her pleasant surprise, offered the redhead a brief smile before standing close next to her – on the opposite side from where Sakura was sitting so that the redhead was between them. For some reason, a part of her felt like turning to look and smirk at some of the others in the clearing, but immediately squelched that feeling, though not before wondering what it meant.

"Now that we're all here," Shikamaru began, grabbing everyone's attention, "I can begin. Naruto and I just arrived from the Hokage's office, where she was in discussions with representatives from Cloud."

This was news to Kitsune, and after taking a quick glance around the area, it appeared as if it was to everyone else other than Naruto as well.

Taking a deep breath and rubbing at his forehead, Shikamaru continued, "It's troublesome, but because of the news they bring, Sasuke has finally been declared a missing nin and is now kill or capture on sight for three of the five nations. Fire, Wind, and Lightning."

There were a few startled exclamations, and Ino even broke down into sobs, much to Kiba's dismay.

"Oh come on, Ino! You're going to cry over him? Even Sakura isn't crying about this!"

Casting a glance towards the girl with pink hair, she noticed that the girl had a rather resolute expression on her face as she was staring at Shikamaru, but otherwise made no motion to express that she was upset in any way. Kitsune found herself having to suppress a bit of a grin... Sakura _had_actually come a long way since the Academy.

"Regardless of what Sakura or anyone else feels, that's the rule now. According to the representatives, he attacked one of their shinobi, a jinchuuriki by the name of Killer Bee. Luckily, Yugito – who some of you already know – was in the area training with him, and they managed to chase off Sasuke and his team with no losses to either side."

Ino only started to sob harder. Hinata had moved over to try to comfort the girl a little, but it was obviously half-hearted and didn't seem as if it was doing much good. Sakura also looked like she wanted to do the same, but otherwise hadn't moved. Pretty much all the males, Naruto included, were frowning as they waited for Shikamaru to continue.

"Sasuke has joined Akatsuki, and since that group has attacked Naruto before, it was not a difficult decision for Hokage-sama to declare him nukenin."

That particular bit of news blindsided Kitsune. She had remembered seeing the brat grow up, albeit from inside Naruto, and now he'd gone and done something foolish like joining the man she hated who was in charge of Akatsuki? Why, if Naruto didn't stop him first... when she got her hands on him she'd-

A hand slipping into hers and squeezing it immediately derailed her train of thought. Looking down in shock, she saw that Naruto had grabbed her hand. Blinking a few times, the redhead glanced back up, only to see the blond teen giving her a rather penetrating stare.

"You were angry," he murmured. "I could feel your rage starting to build. I'm angry too, but your chakra still scares a lot of people, remember?"

Nodding numbly she looked straight ahead, to see Shikamaru looking pointedly at their joined hands, followed by a knowing look at her face. It was a good thing he didn't smile, otherwise she would have had to jump across the clearing and tear it off-

Another squeeze on her hand once again stopped her thoughts, and she found herself looking at the blond next to her with no small amount of incredulity.

"You were doing it again," Naruto chuckled.

Huffing and turning away (but still not releasing the hand) she simply gave a dead stare to Shikamaru, waiting for him to continue with his little speech. _Now_he was smiling.

Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention, as Ino's sobs had stopped, he continued speaking to them all. "Naruto wanted me to tell you all that he can handle Sasuke alone, if the need arises. Otherwise you should probably just avoid him, as he _is_rather strong."

When no one made any comments, he nodded. "That's everything about Sasuke. In other news, a Gokage Meet has been requested, and as such Hokage-sama will be heading for Iron Country, a neutral land that uses samurai instead of ninja. Each Kage is allowed two escorts, so she will be taking Hatake Kakashi with her. She also wishes to take Sakura," here, Shikamaru turned to look at the girl in question, "if you're willing to go, that is."

Even though she appeared startled at first, the girl immediately stood up. "O-of course I'll go, if Tsunade-shishou needs me!"

"Good. She wants you to report to her about the assignment."

"She doesn't want to take Naruto?" a male voice cut in.

Everyone turned briefly to look at Neji, who had asked the question, then looked back at Shikamaru only to see him shrug. "It would have been too troublesome to ask why. She would likely rather have him here, as he is this village's best defense, as the fight with Pain showed everyone."

There were scattered sounds of agreement through the area, even Neji nodded, accepting that. Kitsune tossed a glance at Naruto, who simply grinned at her before looking back at Shikamaru. He was acting nonchalant about the whole thing, so he either knew this already or didn't care... which she found unlikely. The redhead knew she'd just have to pry it out of him later.

"If no one else has any questions, that's all. Naruto and I just figured it would be easier to tell everyone about Sasuke at once so that we all know. Now, if no one minds, I'm going to go take a nap."

* * *

_Twelve days later..._

"Oneeee-samaaaa!"

Kitsune nearly stumbled as someone with a familiar voice ran into her from behind, wrapping arms around her just under her chest. It only took a moment for her mind to restart, as it had almost stopped from shock.

"Oho, onee-sama, is it just me or are these bigger than the last time I remember seeing you?"

The arms from before were no longer wrapped around her waist, but now two hands were cupping the undersides of her breasts, lifting them slightly. Now she was completely shocked. Not even Naruto-! Slapping the hands away, she quickly turned around and jumped backwards, only to see Neko leaning forward slightly and grinning at her.

"N-Neko! W-w-what are you doing here? Why did you do that to me?"

Neko, who now looked like a girl in her mid-teens instead of an academy student, covered her mouth, her eyes wide. "Onee-sama! You're acting more realistic! It's so amazing... I'm so proud of you!"

The teen made a move to jump on the readhead, but Kitsune swiftly side-stepped the other humanized bijuu, letting her crash into the dirt road.

"Mouuu! Onee-sama, you were supposed to catch me! Ouch ouch ouch..."

Kitsune didn't offer any kind of response, but instead looked over at the others who had stopped to watch the goings-on. She had only glimpsed them before, but now with Neko on the ground she had a good opportunity to see who was watching.

Tsunade was the first person she saw, which likely meant that whatever happened during the Gokage Meet was now over. The woman had a small grin on her face as she watched the goings on. Next to her on either side were her two escorts, Kakashi and Sakura. Naruto's one-time sensei had his nose in his book, as usual, while Sakura was looking around the village instead of at her, probably taking in the changes around the village as it was being fixed up.

Behind them a few paces were some other people, two of which she recognized, and two that she didn't. The two that she did recognize were Yugito and Kankuro, the former had her hand palming her face while the latter was grinning at her. The two she didn't recognize were a girl with close-cut black hair and a forehead protector for Rock. The other was a taller man with blue hair and an eyepatch, wearing the insignia for Mist.

"You're back from the Meet?"

Tsunade nodded. "Yes. It went well. Have you seen Naruto recently?"

Kitsune shook her head negatively. "Not since this morning. He said he was going to train today. There are still plenty of his clones around the village, though. I'm sure one of them will stop to talk to you."

"True." Tsunade looked around, as if searching for one. "We're heading for my office. Is it alright if we leave Neko with you?"

Kitsune wasn't sure how much of that was actually a question and how much of it was an order. Looking down at the other bijuu, who was now sitting on the ground and pouting, she nodded. "It's fine. I'm sure I can find something for her to do."

"Good. If you see Naruto before I do, tell him to report to my office, okay?"

"Understood." In the past she might have scoffed at taking orders from anyone, Naruto included. Now, however... it was no inconvenience to her and she didn't mind taking orders from those she had come to respect. That list of those she respected was still very, very small, but Tsunade was one of the first people on it.

"Thank you. Okay, everyone. Follow me please."

Kitsune stood there as she watched the group pass her and Neko by, returning a greeting with Yugito as the blonde-haired woman approached before leaving with the rest of the group. She tried not to glare as the man with blue hair stared at her with a frown on his face, and the girl from Rock wasn't much better. Both of them looked away when she eventually did stare right back at them, though.

"Matatabi, what's going on?"

Any pretense of acting like a child was immediately dropped as the other teen rose to her feet. "So we're using real names now? I have no idea what's going on other than what Yugito has been told. There are representatives here from each village to make plans for war. Madara... Tobi... whatever he's called – he attacked the summit and essentially declared war on every hidden village."

"You're joking?"

"Far from it, I'm afraid. He declared the beginning of the Fourth War. This time though, all the villages will be working together instead of against each other. This Tobi character... he wants to create the perfect genjutsu. To do that he needs the chakra of all the bijuu."

"So he's declaring war in an effort to get us? How will that work? We'll just be even better protected and hidden away!"

Neko shrugged. "I have no idea. He's a madman, onee-sama."

Kitsune snorted, then started walking while gesturing for the other bijuu to follow. "Lets go to my apartment. We can talk more there."

"Sure."

As they walked, Kitsune took a moment to look over Neko's new form. "So what made you decide to change?"

Neko tossed her 'sister' a grin before shrugging. "It's easier being taller. I tried a few different ages when sparring with Yugito-nee, and we figured this one was probably the best when it came to make myself appear unassuming to any opponents we might come across. Much like you, onee-sama."

Kitsune hummed slightly. It made sense, she had originally taken a form like this to assist Naruto with his training, after all.

"Unless... that's not the only reason you appear the same age as Naruto-sama?"

There was a definite teasing lilt in Neko's tone that Kitsune detected. She tossed a glare at her companion, but said nothing, and continued walking. Neko's giggles that followed let Kitsune know that she was well aware of the other reason why she kept the form of a teenager.

"The only reason I'm not attacking you is because I need your help with something. That and... I'll admit, there may be some truth to what you're likely thinking."

Neko bounded up alongside her almost immediately. "So it's true? You're finally feeling your emotions?"

"To a certain degree, yes. Naruto has been helping me understand, as have others I've come to trust."

"Hmm." Neko tapped at her chin, making a show of thinking hard. Before long, she glanced at her fellow bijuu, a gleam in her eye. "Are emotions the only things Naruto has been showing you?" She nudged the redhead in the side a little as she grinned.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I don't believe that. I saw the way you were acting whenever I got close to him. Especially after I kissed him. You were jealous then," Neko stated, matter-of-factly. "It would be reasonable of me to believe that those sorts of feelings have only gotten stronger since."

Kitsune immediately wanted to argue, but she knew her companion was speaking the truth now. She had been jealous, and that was one of the emotions that she had been struggling the most with lately. "You're right, I was jealous then."

She was waiting for Neko to make a comment, but when she didn't, Kitsune looked over to see why not. The other bijuu was staring at her, though it looked sad. "You like him, don't you?"

Kitsune immediately looked away, thinking about it. Did she? Probably, since she enjoyed being around him in general, and was aware that jealousy was running rampant in her mind when he wasn't around or when he was around another female that was about his age. Hinata's confession had definitely thrown her for a loop... she was still trying to figure out how to deal with it. Naruto hadn't talked to her about it either, so she was left wondering what he had told the other girl, if anything.

"I think I do. But other than give him power, I can't really do anything else for him."

"Yes you can! Show him some affection!"

Kitsune scoffed. "Even that can only go so far. I can train with him, and try to show him I care. But this body isn't real!"

Not even Neko had a comeback for that, so the two of them traveled in silence for a bit longer. It wasn't until they were almost at the apartment that the other bijuu began talking again.

"You know, a little over a month ago I was talking to Gyuuki, and he gave me an idea. He remarked that our chakra is so potent it can do some incredible things... inhabiting these fake bodies is just one of them. He also commented that with all the hosts he's been sealed in, he has a pretty good idea of how the human body works now."

Kitsune had stopped walking and turned to look at Neko, wondering where the other bijuu was going. The other girl was pointing out various places on her person as she explained the various organs that made up a human body, and how they worked together.

"I know all this, Neko. I've been sealed twice before, I've got two chakra imprints of female human bodies and one of Naruto's. I've created real skin for a face and some blood temporarily... wait. Are you..."

Kitsune trailed off, finally catching on to what Neko was getting at. The other bijuu was giving her a sly look, obviously knowing where her thoughts would end up. Kitsune watched as one of Neko's fingernails elongated before she cut the back of her other hand with it. The redhead could only watch in amazement as blood... _real_blood leaked from the shallow wound.

"That... how..." Kitsune took a moment to gather her thoughts. She already knew what Neko must have done, she herself had experimented with it to small degrees, but it took so much focus just to do small body parts. "Interesting, but doing more than just a body part or two... I wouldn't be able to focus on my chakra after a while and might lose control of it. Not only that, but the seal may be a problem as well."

"Is yours still locked?" Neko inquired.

"Not completely. I'm not blocked but I can't freely leave the seal either, obviously."

"It's the same for myself and Gyuuki-kun, so there won't be a problem. Gyuuki-kun helped me and I helped him. Since you and Naruto-sama even allowed us this opportunity, I'm going to share it with you. All you have to do is start creating, I'll make sure your chakra doesn't go out of control."

The redhead just stared at her current companion, not believing what she was hearing. There would be no need anymore to have Naruto summon her into a construct, she could be there and help and protect him for real...

"I can tell you're surprised, onee-sama." Neko moved over and grabbed her arm; she didn't try to pull away this time. "Let's go back to your place like you said. It shouldn't take long. If you want to surprise Naruto-sama, the sooner we can get it done, the better."

* * *

_A little over an hour later..._

Kitsune gasped as she breathed deeply in and out for what felt like the first time. Well... technically it was the first time in a _human_body anyway.

If there was one thing she could say right away, it was that being in a human body _hurt_. The new nerves that she had were constantly active and felt like they were on fire. She was currently trying to stand as still as possible as to not brush up against anything – including herself – as she could only imagine what it would feel like.

Pain was a relatively foreign sensation to her as a bijuu. All of her senses barring sight and smell were diluted when she was in her bijuu form, and that carried over into the shadow clone constructs she had been inhabiting for years now. The uncomfortable sensation of nerves firing was the first feelings she got of what it meant to be in pain.

"Excellent work, onee-sama. I knew you wouldn't have any problems. Your body looks just like the construct."

"O... Of course. I used it as... a blueprint."

Her voice sounded different. It was more dull than she was used to hearing, though perhaps it's just because a human's ears didn't hear things the same way hers used to. Her eyesight as well didn't pick up the same details that it had previously.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you've realized your hearing and eyesight have changed. While that is true, you'll notice that your taste and touch have improved greatly. As for smell... well, it's a little worse than normal, but smell is one of the easiest senses to adjust with a little boost of chakra."

Kitsune stared dumbly at Neko, trying to place all of what she was being told into perspective. She could deal with the losses to her hearing and eyesight, and apparently her ability to smell things could be adjusted on the fly. Taste was never a big factor as she never really needed to eat – it was more or less something she did that made her more human-like. All the food she ate was instantly turned into chakra, so she never had any waste. That... would be something she'd have to learn to deal with in a human body.

The ability to actually touch and feel things was an entirely new experience, along with the apparent pain it brought. Honestly it was one of the things she was most looking forward to, but if it always felt like this, then being human _sucked_.

"Does it always hurt like this?" she gasped out.

"No. I was worried about that too, but it goes away. It's just because your nerves are new and are getting used to... well... being alive."

"Good. This sucks."

Neko chuckled, but was still maintaining the barrier around Kitsune's body in case any of her chakra decided to go crazy. For the most part, it hadn't been a problem.

The sound of a door opening and closing, followed by footsteps made both of the bijuu look up and towards the door. Before either of them could think to do anything, the door to the room opened and a tired-looking Naruto stepped in, looking down at the ground while unzipping his jacket. As he prepared to pull one of his arms out of a sleeve, he looked up and stopped dead.

"N-Neko? Kitsune? Wha-" His gaze settled on the redhead for a second and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "I-I'm sorry!"

"Kyaaaa!" Kitsune ducked down, trying to hide behind the other side of the new bed in the apartment. Her scream surprised even herself for a moment, but she didn't have any time to dwell on it as pain flared up against her skin where it had brushed against the bed, and along her legs where she was now squatting on the floor.

With a further shouted apology, Naruto quickly stepped out of the room and slammed both the door to their room and the apartment's front door behind him.

"Whyyyy..." Kitsune heard her voice as it was coming out in a wail. Between the pain and the surprise she didn't know what was going on. Neko had moved over in an attempt to comfort the redhead, but was afraid to touch her and cause more pain.

"It will be okay."

"No it won't." Kitsune felt something falling down the front of her face due to her hypersensitive nerves, but the pain elsewhere was worse so she ignored it. "I've never done that before. I scared him off. Even I don't know why I screamed like that. I've _never_screamed!"

She felt herself breathing faster but for some reason she couldn't slow it down. The knowledge that she couldn't control her breathing only made it happen faster still.

Pain flared up on her face when Neko forcefully grabbed it and turned her head so that they were looking each other in the eyes. "Onee-sama! Calm down! You're starting to hyperventilate, it will make you go unconscious and we don't want to risk that right now. Human bodies are more fragile than you'd believe."

Focusing on the words of her 'sister', she managed to finally realize what was going on and her breathing did in fact start to slow. The pain lessened as well once Neko removed her hands from the redhead's cheeks.

"When Gyuuki-kun and I did this, we were sore for a few hours and that was all. After that everything normalizes and you can touch and feel things. Some things feel so nice." Neko let out a sigh as she held her hands to her cheeks, obviously thinking about something.

Kitsune didn't really have much to say, she was simply focusing on trying to make the nagging pain go away, while thinking about how... embarrassed she was for Naruto to see her. Why did he have to show up right at that moment? She wanted it to be a complete surprise... she wanted him to see her body at the time and place of her choosing, not right after it was created. At least he only saw her back.

"Neko."

"Yes, onee-sama?"

"I have clothing in my seal. Do you think I can pull it out?"

Neko tapped her chin for a moment, pondering. "That's very clever of you, onee-sama. It should work. If it's in your seal then you should be able to grab it if you pull on any of your chakra from within Naruto-sama. You'll always be linked to him."

Kitsune had gathered that much based upon the seal that had shown up on her navel once she had finished building the chakra system of her new body. Based upon the scripting of it, the entire seal was completely inverted compared to the one on Naruto. She supposed that it made sense, but was too exhausted both mentally and physically to think much about it. It probably had something to do with the seal being locked again.

Regardless of that, she searched for her chakra in her new body and found it, along with what felt like a faint link right around her navel that led off to... wherever Naruto likely was now. Imagining the outfit she wanted, a slight tug on her chakra link made a puff of smoke surround her briefly. Kitsune knew it worked as soon as a comfortable weight settled on her once-naked form. Now she was clothed, at least, and only had to tolerate the brief moments of pain as the clothes rubbed against her sensitive skin.

"Oohhhh... onee-sama, that looks good on you!"

Kitsune stood up once she was clothed, and looked down at her figure. It was just one of many outfits she had seen and purchased, and was considered 'casual wear'. The outfit consisted of a simple dark blue tank top and black track pants. The colors contrasted with her dark red hair (which somehow maintained the black ends) and her pale white skin, presenting an image she felt was acceptable.

"Thank you, Neko." While she wasn't sure how to accept the compliment, she felt grateful to hear it. Since compliments weren't something that she ever really got, it was good to get in the practice. Some small part of her also felt more naturally comfortable talking with Neko than she likely would with any other human, if only because she wasn't entirely human herself. The biggest difference now was that she was inhabiting a human body of her own creation rather than a complex chakra construct.

"Are you still in pain?"

Neko's question refocused the redhead's thoughts, and she absently picked at her clothes where they felt more uncomfortable. "A little. It's starting to settle into a dull throb, and only hurts a little more where the clothes are brushing against me. Like you said, I'll probably be fine in an hour or two."

She noticed as the other light-brown haired teen nodded slowly, then asked another question, "Should we go find Naruto-sama?"

Kitsune found herself exhaling sharply through her nostrils, startling herself at the odd feeling. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she ultimately decided against it. "I can find him whenever I need to thanks to our bond. I think I scared him. I know him well enough to know that he'll be a nervous wreck if I looking for him too soon. If he's not home by dinner, I'll go looking."

"Okay. I'm going to go find Yugito-chan then. We can talk more after you've talked to Naruto-sama."

The redhead nodded as she slowly moved over onto the new bed. Laying across it made her wince a few times, but she eventually managed to find a position that didn't hurt too badly.

"Onee-sama, I'm sure you realize that since you have a human body now, you have to eat, sleep, bathe, and all that other stuff too. But at least now you can make kissy-face with Naruto-sama. Among other things." Neko began making kissing noises with her mouth, only to get a pillow in the face.

"Shaddap."

Giggling as she placed the pillow back on the bed, Neko was silent as she walked over to towards the door. Opening it and stepping through, just as she was about to exit she looked over her shoulder, "How long until you claim him, onee-sama?"

Neko closed the door as the pillow was thrown once again. Kitsune let out a very human-like sigh as she heard Neko chuckling before the front door opened and closed once again.

"I don't know..."

* * *

_Seventy-five minutes later..._

Naruto sat on one of the benches in the still-intact areas of Konoha that hadn't been scarred by the attack. The sun had set behind the horizon and the number of people still out and wandering around had dwindled down to a small trickle. All construction that he could hear had long since stopped as well.

When he wasn't training or otherwise doing something else, this was one of his favorite spots in Konoha. It was the spot where his old Team 7 used to hang out after they finished their missions for the day back when they were doing D-Ranks. One of the shops nearby used to sell the flavored ice-pops that he learned to enjoy, and he continued that tradition with Jiraiya before his severe injury. He hadn't seen the man for a while now... Naruto had no idea where the old pervert was recovering.

The last one he bought he had enjoyed with Iruka, after talking to the scarred chunin for a few hours about his old master. He was lucky to have someone like his academy instructor to talk to, he liked to think of the other man as what it would be like to have an older brother, or perhaps an uncle. Honestly he used to look at him as a stand-in for a father... at least until he found out who his real father was.

He stared at the ice-pop in his hand now, wishing he had someone to break off the other half and share it with. Kitsune was never really interested in them because she didn't need to eat anyway. The one time they had shared one, she had bitten into it, chewed it, and finished off the entire thing in about a minute. Then she stared at him as if curious about what was supposed to be so special about it.

Sighing, he watched as it dripped slightly. It wasn't too warm outside, though there was no chill in the air even with his jacket off. It was was resting on the bench next to him, leaving his top only clothed in his mesh undershirt. He had been out training earlier until one of his clones dispelled, letting him know that the group had returned from the Kage Summit, along with a few extra visitors. Even though he had wanted to get cleaned up before he arrived in Tsunade's office, she wanted him there right away. He had gotten there as quick as he could, only leaving his jacket draped over his shoulder and entered through the window.

In hindsight it probably wasn't the smartest idea, if only because of the response it had garnered from the people in the office. While Tsunade, Shikamaru, and the blue-haired Mist shinobi named Ao didn't even so much as bat an eye. Sakura, on the other hand began to blush and wouldn't look at him after he greeted her. Yugito didn't make a scene but she was the closest to the window where he entered and was very friendly, going so far as to give him a kiss on the cheek. After introductions he found out that the girl with the Rock insignia was named Kurotsuchi, and she was the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage. He didn't say anything other than hello, and she barely returned the greeting. It seemed as if she couldn't make up her mind whether she wanted to scowl at him or eye him up like a piece of meat.

Other than that the meeting went off without any problems. Tsunade had wanted him there to explain the results of the meeting and explain that Tobi, or Madara, or whatever name he wanted to go by – had declared war on the shinobi world. They would all be working together to protect the remaining bijuu, because the alternative was everyone stuck in an eternal genjutsu.

That ended his participation in the meeting, and excusing himself, he was going to go home, take a shower, and get changed.

Unfortunately it didn't really happen like that.

He was totally shocked to find Kitsune in his... or their... room, naked. Not only that, but Neko was there too, holding a seal. He had no idea what was going on, but all he did know was that he had never walked in on Kitsune _completely _nude before. Then the scream... in all their time together he had never heard her make a sound like that – and it was something that always seemed a little too, well... human, for her to do.

Luckily, her back had been to him, otherwise he might not be alive right now. She hadn't really injured him badly outside of training, though it was impossible to say if seeing her nude wouldn't send her over the edge. It was strange seeing Neko in the room, or at least a girl who resembled what Neko looked like in her younger form – he didn't really get a good look at her since, well... he was too busy looking at Kitsune.

It would make sense if it was her, though, since Yugito was here – even if his fellow jinchuuriki didn't say anything. To be fair, she didn't really have a chance to.

"So are you actually going to eat that before it melts completely?"

Startled from his thoughts, Naruto froze, recognizing the voice immediately. He desperately hoped that he wasn't about to die. "U-um, yeah... I was just t-thinking..."

When he didn't finish, the person next to him let out a giggle. "Some of it was about me, I hope?"

The blond found himself nodding before he could stop himself. When he did, he stopped the motion, a look of horror spreading across his features.

"Good. Now, let's break that popsicle. I want to try it again before it's all melted on the ground."

Naruto lifted the arm that was holding his stick and handed it over in a stiff, robotic motion. Not one part of the rest of his body moved at all. There was a slight tug as the other half of the ice-pop was pulled off before the arm went slack again, dropping back down to rest over his thigh and knee.

It wasn't until he heard a slurping noise that the blond finally chose to look at the person sitting next to him.

Kitsune was there, looking at the ice-pop in front of her face with a sense of wonder. She stuck her tongue out and tentatively licked it a couple more times.

"Cold... but good. Very good..."

Naruto stared as the redhead started up with long, languid licks up and down the popsicle, until finally putting the top of it in her mouth and sucking on it. He couldn't help but be transfixed at the way her cheek caved in slightly, as well as the popping noise her lips made as they released the cold treat.

It wasn't until she turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow that he realized he was staring. Blushing, he immediately turned away, and started to suck on his own while trying to put what he saw out of his mind.

"This is much better than I thought it would be."

Moving his ice-pop away, he partially turned to look at the redhead sitting next to him. She was staring at her half with a serious expression, as if she had never seen anything like it before.

"Did you manage to improve your ability to taste?" he finally asked.

Kitsune shot him a look that made him flinch, but her smile that followed almost made him relax. Almost.

"I've improved more than just taste."

Naruto turned to look at her, blinking stupidly. With another grin, Kitsune moved her free hand forward and brushed across his cheek, her fingertips tracing the whisker marks that stretched across them. "I can feel things much better now, too."

The blond could see some things clearly even though sunlight was rapidly disappearing. He knew that he was blushing now, and it appeared as though Kitsune was too. Looking at her face, he couldn't help but notice her eyes. Her pupils which used to always be crescent-shaped, were now round just like his. The bright red of her eyes hadn't changed, though, and that was something he was thankful for. They were rather unique and he liked them that way.

"Your eyes changed," he muttered.

Kitsune nodded. "I can still see, though not quite as clearly as I used to."

"Really? I-I mean your eyes... the pupils are round now. Like everyone else."

The redhead simply stared at him, but otherwise didn't seem too surprised. "Do you prefer them the other way?"

Naruto quickly shook his head, dislodging her hand from where it was resting on his cheek. "N-no, I'm fine with either one. They're still bright red, and I like that because it's unique. Err, everyone likes them, I mean. Not just me."

Kitsune continued staring at him for a moment before turning on the bench to look straight ahead. Humming to herself for a second, she lifted the popsicle to take a few more licks of it since it had started melting again. Seeing her do that, Naruto figured he'd better do the same before it all went to waste. Kitsune's next question came a few seconds later.

"Are you afraid of me, Naruto?"

Naruto's tongue paused on his popsicle for a moment before he removed it and let out a sigh. "Not really, no. Why?"

Kitsune hummed again before taking another lick. "Because you seem to be. You've been avoiding me when you think you do something that offends me. You seem to forget that I am not hum... I mean, I am not like other women."

The blond stopped licking at his ice-pop, and turned a critical eye towards his companion. He was a bit thickheaded, sure... but not totally oblivious. It was impossible to miss that slip. She must also have a reason to point out that she was different from others, right? Trying to look at her nonchalantly, he shifted a bit on the bench so that he could examine her while trying not to make it too obvious.

Unlike her eyes, her hair hadn't really changed. It was still the deep red with the black ends, or at least it didn't appear to have changed in the quickly fading light. She was wearing another set of clothes that he had never seen before, however. Her pants were loose-fitting, but her tank-top was on the tight side and it showed off her midriff.

"Do you think these clothes look good on me, Naruto?"

Quickly looking away, the blond blushed, knowing he'd been caught. No matter how inconspicuous he tried to be, she just always seemed to _know._

"Y-Yeah, they look good." Save for a slight hitch in his voice when he started talking, Naruto did his best to seem nonchalant with his answer. Switching focus back to what remained of his popsicle, he had to lick the back of his hand because the treat was melting in earnest now.

The redhead didn't say anything in response, instead Naruto felt as her arm began to brush against his as a result of her moving over to his side of the bench. Rigid now, the blond began to blush harder as he saw her scooting over the rest of the way through his peripheral vision, until both her arm and leg were pressing against his own.

"Kitsune?"

"Hm?" She turned to look at him, flicking the tip of her tongue along the length of her ice-pop.

"Why... what are you doing?"

Pulling the ice treat away from her face, she looked at him, then back to it. "I'm eating."

"No, I mean, you moved over to this side of the bench and you're doing that... t-that thing with your tongue..."

"You mean this?" Turning to face him while bringing the ice-pop back up to her mouth, she twirled her tongue around the top of it before sucking the entire thing – what remained of it, anyway – into her mouth until only the stick was visible. Kitsune let it sit in her mouth for a few seconds before staring at the blond with half-lidded eyes, then slowly pulling the icy treat back out, making a loud slurping noise.

Naruto could only sit there, completely transfixed as Kitsune made a show of slowly licking her lips. He had no idea where to look – at her lips, her eyes, the remains of the popsicle, or at the clearly-visible cleavage she had on display as her chest was currently pressed against his arm. His eyes began to quickly dart between all four, until finally settling on her lips again. The ambient lighting was just enough for him to notice that her lips were very, very red. When and where did she learn to do this?

Without warning the redhead suddenly pulled back, sitting straight on the bench and working over the remains of her ice-pop again. Naruto had to fight off a sudden surge of disappointment. He thought that... well, he wasn't sure what to think, but he wasn't exactly fighting the urge to kiss her again. Not only that, but the blond was rather certain that Kitsune was trying to get him to do just that. Perhaps he took too long to make up his mind? Unfortunately, he didn't know if it was part of her nature as a bijuu or not, but she was very good at hiding her intentions and only telling him things when she felt like it. That was something that had never changed since he knew her.

"Finish your popsicle, Naruto." Kitsune murmured between licks of what little now remained of her own.

Looking down, he noted that a fair amount of the ice-pop had now melted and was forming a small puddle between his feet. It also looked about ready to fall off the stick. Carefully lifting it, he leaned forward from where he sat on the bench and put it in his mouth. It was barely hanging on, so closing his lips around the stick he pulled it out as he tried to keep his tongue from freezing.

Shaking his head, the blond tried to deal with the freeze as Kitsune took the wooden stick from his hands. She had been watching him finish his, and as the rest of his popsicle melted in his mouth, he observed as Kitsune did the same thing he just did. The redhead seemed to struggle with the cold for a moment before swallowing. Naruto was sure something about her had changed now if temperature was affecting her.

"Can you feel temperatures now?"

Kitsune glanced at him, and simply smirked instead of responding. Turning her gaze back to the two popsicle sticks she now had in her hand, the blond felt a brief pulse of chakra before the sticks were engulfed in a bright white flame. They were dropped on the ground, and Naruto couldn't help but stare as they burned to ash in mere seconds.

"Wow. What technique was tha-"

The blond didn't get a chance to finish as Kitsune moved from her seat to briefly stand in front of him, only to climb back onto the bench with her knees resting on the wood as she straddled his waist. He was pressed firmly against the back of the bench, and even if he tried to lean sideways the redhead's arms and hands quickly moved to either side, wrapping around his neck. Anything else he might have thought about the situation quickly ground to a halt as her lips pressed against his.

Naruto's first thoughts were of surprise, quickly followed by pleasure. Her lips were cold, but the tongue that tenatively worked its way into his mouth was very warm. In a few seconds they had gotten further into this kiss than they did during their first one, but the blond's mind was too focused to realize that fact.

He didn't begin to think about other things until Kitsune's weight finally settled against him. He was surprised, because as far as he knew, a Shadow Clone only weighed about half – if that – of the person who summoned them. Since Kitsune was formed from her own chakra, she was nearly weightless, and instead used her chakra to reinforce and propel her limbs whenever they sparred. Her weight was something that was surprisingly comfortable though, and he found his hands moving up to settle on her slim waist.

He was understandably startled when part of his hand that settled above her waistband met with warm flesh. They both stopped kissing each other at the exact same moment... he did because of surprise, but Kitsune had her own reason. He literally felt her quiver slightly as she was leaning against him, panting slightly.

"That... that felt... good? What did you do?"

Naruto blinked as he stared into the redhead's eyes. He didn't often talk to girls when their faces were centimeters from his. "W-What? I just put my hand on your waist."

"Did you do something when you touched my skin?"

"Your... skin? Wait, since when-"

Kitsune fisted her hands in Naruto's hair, tugging his head back sharply, causing him to let out a startled yelp. To silence him, the redhead placed her mouth over his for a few seconds, teasing him, but pulled back when he seemed about ready to deepen it. She had lifted herself off of his waist, but dragged her body up along his until her chest was at his chin and she was looking over him, her loose hair framing her face as it fluttered about from her movements.

During the course of her adjustment, Naruto's hands had slid from her waist down to the middle of her thighs. Having his hands on her made the redhead feel... strange, in a good way. But it was nothing like before.

"Move your hands back up."

"But-"

She tugged his hair again, only a little more gentle this time. He still winced.

"Do it."

Acquiescing to her request, the blond's hands moved up again. As his palms reached her waist, he skipped over her waistband and placed his hands instead directly on her skin right above her hips.

He watched curiously as her eyes went wide and her nostrils flared, not to mention her entire body shuddered against his.

"What did you do?" she whispered, staring at him intently.

Naruto wasn't quite sure what she meant. "I just touched you. That's it."

The redhead's eyes narrowed. "You mean to tell me that such a simple action feels like that? It sent a strange shivering sensation down my spine – yet another sensations I have never felt before."

Kitsune's grasp on his hair loosened as he looked to the side, obviously flustered. "You know, I-I'm not really an expert, but I've heard and read that people tingle like that when they are touched by someone they like." He would have said _love_, but the Kitsune he was dealing with now was definitely an unknown quantity. Naruto hoped that her actions and words meant good things for the both of them, but better safe than sorry.

"Like, you say?" Kitsune hummed as she slid her body back down his, once again settling in his lap. He didn't lower his hands, and before he was really aware of what was happening, both had slipped underneath her tank-top to rest about halfway up her torso. She shuddered again, and Naruto could have sworn he heard her softly moan.

His arousal shot up through the roof, enough to the point that he was absolutely certain Kitsune could feel it from where she was resting in his lap. Unfortunately he had no way of knowing, but to be honest at this point he didn't really care. It was unlikely Kitsune would kill him since she was the one who started it, after all.

Or so he hoped, anyway.

"Mmh, Naruto..." Kitsune mumbled against his shoulder. It took a moment for his own brain to register that she had called his name.

"Yes?"

"I don't think it should feel like this, but I don't know." Kitsune moved her hands to his chest, then slowly pushed back, lifting herself away. "I have no experience of things like this, so I'm confused. Something might have gone wrong. It's too late to bother Matatabi or Hokage-sama about it, too."

Naruto simply stared as the redhead lifted herself from his lap, only to stand unsteadily in front of him. Her tank-top was still hitched up slightly on one side and her hair was a bit messy, but she made no effort to correct either.

"What went wrong? Who's Matatabi?" He also wanted to ask about since when she started calling Tsunade 'Hokage-sama', but that would be for another time.

Kitsune's gaze upon him immediately sharpened. "As to what went wrong, I don't know exactly, but I think Hokage-sama might be able to tell me. Regarding Matatabi..."

The redhead looked away for a moment, long enough for Naruto to slowly rise to his feet. When Kitsune turned away he wasn't expecting to get an answer, as that was the way she normally operated. If she didn't want him to know something, she simply wouldn't say anything.

"Matatabi is Neko's name, the one given to us by the old man... the Sage of Six Paths. However-" Kitsune turned to pin him with a sharp glare, one that caught him by surprise. "As it is her true name, it should have been hers to tell. I was in the wrong to say it. If she says it to you, act as if you don't know it. Am I clear?"

"Crystal. I won't say a word, I promise."

A slow smile crept across her face. "Good. You've never broken a promise. Don't let this be the first. As our names are the last thing we have left of the old man, if there is something a bijuu could consider precious... our names are that something."

Naruto began to nod, but then stopped, only to stare curiously at her. "So... that means you have one too."

Kitsune hesitated, but then nodded very slowly, her eyes never leaving his.

Naruto frowned a little, somewhat dismayed that she hadn't told him, but on the other hand could respect that as the only thing she still had of the man who had literally created her... it was her prerogative to share it or keep it to herself.

His grin and shrug obviously caught her off-guard, if the surprise on her face was any indication. "It's getting late, and I'm tired from all the training. I'm gonna go to bed early so we can go visit Tsunade-baachan early tomorrow."

As he started walking towards their new apartment, Kitsune moved up quickly next to him, and this time surprised the blond by grabbing his hand and intertwining her fingers with his as they walked. Neither of them said another word the rest of the way back.

* * *

_The following morning..._

"While I honestly can't claim to know exactly _what _you did," Tsunade stated in a slow drawl, "you are now, beyond a shadow of a doubt... human."

Kitsune stared at the Hokage with a small smile on her face as she sat on the edge of one of the hospital beds. "So the things I've felt have been normal, then? Not just with touching things, but when I closed my eyes last night I have no memory of what transpired between then and when Naruto made me become aware again. Is that really sleep?"

Tsunade glanced up from her chart, smirking at the bijuu-turned-human. "You're sleeping with Naruto now?"

"Yesterday was the first time. I normally get bored and either meditate or watch Naruto. This time I simply laid down next to him, and the next thing I remember was that it was daytime instead of night. Even Naruto seemed surprised, as I have never done that before."

The Hokage's smirk lessened slightly, it was likely too soon for Kitsune to understand the double meaning behind 'sleeping' with someone. "It was probably your new body adjusting to being human for the first time. After a while it is probable that you'll need to sleep for perhaps one or two hours a day, as even most shinobi only need four to five hours. We'll have to run a few more test, but your metabolism seems to be extremely active."

"Do you know why that is?"

Tsunade shrugged. "Your body was formed because of your chakra, which I only have theories about how it was even possible. That right there is most likely the main reason behind it. But then even in your bijuu form you were able to have solid bodies to a certain extent, so I guess it wasn't much of a stretch for you to make a human body."

"Correct. Though as I mentioned to Naruto, my senses have changed... three of them have gotten worse while two have improved."

"I can only offer you more theories, though there have been many documented cases with humans that a loss of one sense, like sight or hearing, improves all the others in response. This is likely another case of that, but on a much grander scale. Your sight, hearing, and smell aren't what they used to be, but your taste has improved, as you said. I don't believe you had a true nervous system as a bijuu, and humans have quite a complicated one even when compared to other animals, so it will be an entirely new experience for you."

The redhead nodded, then placed one of her hands just above her hips. "It already has. Naruto touched me right here before, and it felt like a shock traveled through my body. Not to say it was a bad shock... it was simply... beyond description."

The Hokage stared curiously at her patient. If she had to affix a description to the look on Kitsune's face, it was one of passive serenity... like the woman was reliving a fond memory that she enjoyed. "You say Naruto touched you there? Did he touch your skin directly?"

Kitsune barely thought about it for a second before slowly nodding. "Yes."

One of Tsunade's eyebrows arched upward. "Was it accidental, or purposeful?"

This time her patient seemed a little more confused about how to answer. "I... to be fair to Naruto, I think it was accidental, as he was..."

Much to Tsunade's surprise, Kitsune actually seemed to _squirm _a bit where she was sitting, her hands now in her lap fidgeting with her robe. The redhead had trailed off and wouldn't look Tsunade in the eye. This was very odd behavior coming from the usually blunt bijuu.

As she was about to ask what happened, the redhead managed to stutter out the rest. "I had started k-k-kissing him, and at one point he reached up and touched my side. It felt so... so good and made me shiver. At first I thought he had done something, but when he claimed that it was only a normal touch, I thought I had messed up somehow when creating this body. Now though, you tell me that this is normal..."

"Yes, it is normal." Tsunade resisted the urge to rub her forehead. "If you were in fact... kissing Naruto, then your new body was likely releasing endorphins, which is a chemical that gradually makes you feel even better. However, since that body is so new and you aren't used to it, you're likely also hypersensitive." The Hokage paused for a moment, before pinning the redhead with a sharp look. "Just how far did you get with Naruto, if you don't mind me asking?"

"How far did we... get?"

This time the blonde had to bite back a groan. She kept forgetting who she was dealing with. "Did you do anything else after you kissed him?"

Kitsune quickly shook her head, looking curious. "There is more to do? I have only copied what I have seen from others when I observed them in the village, and brief moments before I was sealed. Does... does it feel even better than kissing?"

The almost childlike curiosity amused Tsunade for a brief moment as she slowly nodded. "I'm going to assume that your... creator... didn't give you any insights into human reproduction or mating rituals, stuff like that?"

Kitsune's slow negative headshake was all the answer she needed.

"Never thought I'd be giving a bijuu the talk," Tsunade looked away, mumbling to herself before setting down the medical chart on the empty bed next to her stool. Letting out a brief sigh and getting mentally prepared, she turned in the chair to face Kitsune once again. The woman was still staring at her with open, undisguised curiosity.

"I know from your exam that you made your body perfectly, including all the relevant parts that make up a female human." Tsunade made a gesture towards Kitsune's lower half. "Did you ever wonder what that spot between your legs is for?"

The blonde didn't know whether to watch in amusement or pity as Kitsune lifted up the hem of the hospital gown and proceeded to examine herself. It was only with belated recognition that Tsunade remembered an earlier conversation she had with the bijuu – they were technically gender-neutral. That meant unless they actually chose one, like Kitsune had, they would have no idea about reproduction at all.

There was one bit of curiosity as she recalled a brief conversation she had with Naruto after Yugito and Neko had left the first time... after he had gotten the Nibi out of the seal. Neko had claimed that they were in fact once human, but that the split power from the Ten-Tails had completely overwhelmed their human bodies.

Their souls were effectively stripped from their mortal shells and made to anchor a portion of the Jyuubi's chakra, keeping it in separate parts. The first attempts had met with partial success – Shukaku was obviously half-crazed, and Nibi was extremely hyper and energetic. But by the time the Sage had gotten around to the Eight and Nine-Tails, they were rather 'normal', all things considered.

A startled yelp drew her attention back to the redhead sitting on the bed – who was now tugging down furiously on the hospital gown and looking away.

"Find something interesting?" Tsunade's grin and sarcastic tone was easily picked up by the redhead, who scowled at her even though she was obviously embarrassed.

"I didn't come here to be made fun of, Hokage-sama." Kitsune growled out.

The blonde couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Don't worry about it, I'm allowed to make fun of family."

Kitsune made to retort, but her mouth quickly shut as Tsunade's words sank in. "Family? What are you getting at? I have no family. I can't anymore."

"You told me that you made your body based upon a template of those you were sealed in. I did some cross-referencing, and your genetic makeup matches my grandmother, Mito, much more than Kushina. For all intents and purposes, you're an Uzumaki – red hair and all. If I were to call you Auntie... well," Tsunade shrugged, "you're still reasonably close enough to my own genes for it to be true."

While Kitsune wasn't too clear on all the medical talk, the one thing that she did pick up was that because of her chakra-memory using what it remembered of Mito's (and to a much lesser extent Kushina's) body, she was technically an Uzumaki and was related to Tsunade.

It was... strangely nice. She barely considered the other eight bijuu to be her 'siblings', and even then that was mostly due to Matatabi's recent influence. Previously, she couldn't have cared less. Now that she knew she was 'related' to the human in front of her though... it was a surreal feeling, if she had to try to describe it. All of her memories she had of the importance humans placed on the meaning of family and familial bonds clogged up her thought processes, as she now had context to apply to those memories.

There was likely a lot she still needed to learn about just what it meant, but to know that parts of her were somehow similar to parts of the Hokage... it was strange, but not in a bad way.

"Before I get into an in-depth discussion with you about human reproduction, there is one other little thing I can get out of the way."

Kitsune looked at her... what was Tsunade supposed to be to her now? Her niece? She would have to clarify with the woman to see if she was joking about it or not. Regardless of that, she kept silent and simply waited to hear what the Hokage had to say.

"I need to make your registration a little more... offical now. I was able to get around some things because you were technically just a construct, but now that you have a permanent body we need to complete your paperwork a little more thoroughly. It won't take too long to finish."

Tsunade started fiddling with one of the folders that she had set on the bed near where the chart had been laid. Opening it, she grabbed some papers out of it, then flipped through them until she found one she was looking for and handed it to Kitsune.

The redhead began to peruse the contents as Tsunade continued explaining. "I wasn't sure what you and Naruto might feel about it, but I've gone ahead and filled it all in as if you were an Uzumaki. I leave it up to you both to work out the specifics. The only thing you really need to choose is a birthdate."

"June twenty-second."

Tsunade blinked at the rapid response. "That... didn't take you long."

"It's the day Naruto summoned me for the first time."

"How did you-" Tsunade stopped herself, shaking her head as she sighed. "Eidetic memory. I almost forgot."

Kitsune didn't say anything, but continued looking over the paper with her 'new' information. There were a few moments where the Hokage could have sworn she saw the redhead's lips twitch upward in a brief smile, but otherwise remained impassive until she finished.

It wasn't long before Tsunade had the sheet of paper handed back to her. "It looks fine to me," Kitsune stated.

"There is nothing you want to change?"

Kitsune shook her head. "I gave you my birth date, and making it the same year as Naruto was a wise choice, as it makes things simpler in the long run. As for most of the other things I will let Naruto know what I have decided. He'll accept it."

Tsunade chuckled as she placed all of her papers back into the folder she originally pulled them out of. "You sound very confident. He is rather unpredictable, you know."

"Yes, I know." Kitsune revealed a rather coy grin, surprising Tsunade slightly. "I do have the advantage that we are rather close, and he's never turned me down before. I think he'll be happy that I chose to be an Uzumaki."

Kitsune briefly allowed a genuine smile, before turning to look out the window.

"For once in my long existence, I feel like I'm truly... home."

* * *

A/N: Formatting on this site is truly driving me up a wall. I have to copy/paste into freaking notepad just to keep the space after italicized words. I don't know why it does this with OpenOffice. Whatever. Apologies for any I missed.

Anyway, notes about this story and review responses will be posted on my new blog from now on, so that I won'd have to clutter up the end of chapters with notes anymore. The link is in in the top of my profile.

paradoxjast . blogspot . com


	10. Sixteen, Part Three

I tried to get this chapter beta'd before I posted it, but my beta was being strangely lazy this weekend so I'm posting it because I said I would. I'll upload fixes later.

* * *

Age Sixteen, Part Three

_One month later..._

Kitsune woke slowly after feeling something shift next to her. As her eyes gradually opened, the redhead blinked a few times at the bright sunlight that was streaming in through the bedroom window. Turning her head to look at the clock nearby, she quickly noted the time before grumbling to herself upon realizing it was time to get up.

Even if the aspect of having to sleep was new to her, it was something that she was coming to enjoy greatly. Her new body always felt refreshed after sleeping, not to mention it was nice having a period of time during the day where she was not always having to be constantly aware of everything in her surroundings, even when meditating.

Twisting and rolling over to try to get out of the bed, she was stopped short by the feeling of an arm that was draped over her stomach. Looking over to the other side, she couldn't keep the beginnings of a grin off her face when she spotted to the sleeping visage of her favorite... fellow human.

The blond was still asleep and making a light snoring noise from right next to her. This was another one of the aforementioned things that the redhead had really started to enjoy about sleeping. Not only was it comfortable, but it was something she was able to do at the same time as Naruto. She didn't wear anything to bed other than an overly large T-shirt and undergarments. During the night her shirt often managed to get pulled up enough to where her skin would end up rubbing against Naruto's in some manner.

While she no longer got the intense tingles as she had finally gotten used to having sensitive nerves compared to her normal bijuu form, skin-on-skin contact was something she could admit to enjoying, but only if she felt like saying so. If asked why she liked it, it was impossible for her to think of an adequate response other than 'just because'.

Not to mention it was strangely... amusing... to keep Naruto guessing about her true thoughts.

Inhaling deeply, she carefully moved the blond's arm off of herself and back over to his body, only stopping briefly when he let out a snort and then muttered something unintelligible in his sleep. Going through her vocabulary and the context of the various words she knew, the redhead quickly applied the word 'cute' to the situation before leaning over to kiss the tip of his nose. It was something done on impulse, but she obtained further amusement upon watching as his face scrunched up briefly before evening out. Smiling openly now, she struggled to contain her emotions and giggles that wanted to burst forth as she watched him.

Shaking her head, Kitsune finished moving his arm back over to his own body and slowly climbed out of the comfortable bed. Tsunade had warned her during following check-ups that she'd probably find herself acting oddly from time to time, mostly because she would have to get used to dealing with... what was it called again? Oh yes, hormones. As a bijuu with no gender, she had never had any interest in men or women by definition, mostly because she had no interest in the knowledge of the process of reproduction. Based on observations she had made long ago, she knew how to get both men and women to bow to her whims, but the actions themselves meant nothing. She knew the biological processes, certainly... but the reasons behind copulation when one wasn't intending to reproduce?

She was clueless until about a month ago.

Gradually interacting with Naruto over the years had opened her eyes – literally – to the meanings behind some interactions, and what it meant to care about another being... any entity, be they human or one of her fellow bijuu. For a being that was originally created to only follow logic (or so she had believed in the beginning up until meeting Matatabi again) emotions were something that were intangible and had no meaning other than to apply a word to a situation. Hating someone or something was the first 'emotion' she had ever really known, if only because it was so prevalent everywhere she went. There was always one human that wanted to do something bad to another. Sometimes they didn't even have to really do anything, only act or talk like they did.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there was another emotion called love. Kitsune's biggest problem in coming to understand that emotion, at least from the perspective of a logical being, was that there weren't really any examples of 'love' that could be observed. The few times she had asked various humans she had talked to, the only explanation she got was that it was either used to express liking someone or something a lot, unconditionally even – or that you would just 'know'. To make it even more difficult, there were supposedly different kinds of love to boot.

In other words, love was the exact opposite of hatred. She had been going over these thoughts for days now, perhaps even longer, by wondering exactly what she thought and felt for the blond-haired young man she had been with. Kitsune knew that she at the very least liked him, as he had been the first to give her as close to true freedom as she could get, along with a declaration to protect her from those who would use her for their own selfish ends.

Was it more, though? There was one girl among their group, Hinata, who she knew claimed to love Naruto. It might be rude to ask her about why she felt that way, but the redhead knew from her casual get-togethers with Ino and the girls that they loved to gossip about these things. Perhaps some unobtrusive comments might help her get some better insight as to her own feelings.

Then there was also Sakura to deal with. While they had been cordial to each other, and maybe even bordering on being decent friends for the past couple months... she had seen the looks that the other girl favored Naruto with from time to time. Thinking about it made her bristle a little – after all the time Naruto had tried to get the girl's attention (she had even helped once!), it wasn't until _now_ that the pink haired girl had decided to really notice him! Talk about aggravating.

Kitsune took a deep breath as she slowly wandered over to the bedroom window, gently pulling aside the curtain so that she could glance outside. Squinting as she adjusted to the bright morning sunlight, her bright red eyes slowly scanned the early-morning crowd as they walked to their destinations. The building where their new home was located on one of the main paths that they called the Southern Concourse. It went straight from the central administration area all the way to the south gate. There were similar paths to the north and east, though most of the northern one was still closed off because of some lingering reconstruction.

A slight rustling noise made her aware that Naruto was either awake or waking up. Briefly glancing over her shoulder, she observed as he managed to propel himself upright, then sit so his legs were off the side of the bed as he stretched. It wasn't until his bleary eyes settled on her that she shifted her gaze back to the window, once again roving over the buildings on the opposite side of the street.

A moment later, a slight weight settled on her shoulder. It was hard, slightly pointy, and a bit uncomfortable... so without looking she quickly deduced that it was his chin. She was proven correct when a moment later his deep morning-voice began to mumble next to her ear.

"G'Mornin."

"Hello."

Naruto exhaled sharply, apparently amused at something if the vibrations of his chest against her back was any indication. "S'posed to say g'mornin when you jus' wake up."

"So you've said. Though how do you know if one morning is any better than the next? Why do you call it good?"

Naruto hummed for a second before lifting his chin and moving away from her. "I think it's more because," he stopped talking as she heard him yawn from behind her. "Because you want it to be a good morning, even if it isn't one yet."

"That makes no sense."

Naruto grunted. "'S too early t' think about it too much." Before she could say anything else, she heard the bathroom door click shut followed by the sound of running water.

Lips quirking up into a brief smile, Kitsune let her amusement show for a brief moment. She had found plenty of entertainment from Naruto in the mornings, at least when she awoke before he did. Another difference between her body and a normal human's that they had found out was that not only did she need minimal amounts of sleep to operate at peak condition, but when she woke from said sleep it only took her about thirty seconds to gain full cognitive function.

Someone like Naruto though, it usually took five minutes or more when he wasn't out of the village or on assignment. Even if he was the only one she regularly woke up around, it still seemed like that was a lot of time to waste on 'waking up'.

Releasing the drape and moving away from the window, she shifted back over to the dresser that had her clothes in it. There were still some things she kept within the seal, but it was mostly stuff she didn't want Naruto or anyone else seeing, at least not yet. It's not that they were secret, but... well, okay, they were. The magazines she had taken up reading had given her plenty of ideas, even if some of them seemed rather outlandish.

When asking about the validity of the magazines among her 'friends', Ino seemed very happy with her choice of reading material, while both Sakura and Tenten appeared more exasperated than anything else. Hinata, as usual, blushed fiercely but said nothing. She did get it confirmed from all of them, however, that while magazines claimed to be full of things like advice – it was very rarely proven advice.

That essentially meant she was on her own for figuring things out. Relationship advice was hard to come by as none of the others she regularly talked to had anyone that they were seeing – to the contrary they all seemed to be more interested in what she was (or wasn't) doing with Naruto as opposed to getting into a relationship of their own.

Kitsune had yet to say anything about her and Naruto, even to the boy himself. However judging by Hinata's declaration about a month ago and the way Sakura and other females were eyeing him now, she would have to soon. The only problem was that any time she even considered talking to Naruto about it, she began to sweat and feel uncomfortable... especially around her stomach. Shizune was the only one she had spoken to about it so far as she thought it was a medical issue, but the kunoichi had simply given her a comforting smile. Apparently even humanized bijuu could feel butterflies.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to the restroom opened and Naruto walked out, toweling his hair. Kitsune glanced at him momentarily, her eyes resting on the now always visible seal on his stomach before continuing to rifle through the dresser for her shinobi wear. Grabbing a set of the standard shinobi gear minus the vest, she tossed the clothing on the bed before grabbing her cloth binding wrap from the top of the dresser.

Gathering up her clothes from the bed and walking past the blond without a word, she headed for the bathroom to tape up her chest and get dressed, as she had already showered the night before. These were all things that were completely new to her, but it was almost as if she instinctually knew how to do them. That lent credence to what Matatabi had been telling her about how the bijuu were all human once. Kitsune's skepticism had been continuously dwindling as time went on, considering she was doing things for what she knew was the first time, but yet performed them so automatically as if she had known how to do them all along.

Taping up her chest like she was doing now, however, was an entirely new experience. She felt clothing in general was annoying, but when she went to spar with Naruto in her new body her chest (among other body parts) began to cause her a lot of pain. Not to mention that pain in general was a new experience for her altogether... at least to such an extreme amount. Sure, she felt pain as a bijuu, but it never felt anywhere near as intense as it did in human form. Perhaps because as a bijuu she was a being of complete chakra and all of her physical sensations were diluted. Everyone she talked to on a somewhat regular basis, including Tsunade, only had theories.

Reinforcing her body parts with chakra helped when sparring, but things like cuts from kunai still hurt like a bitch. The first cut she had received during training with Naruto had brought her to her knees, no matter that it had healed in less than a minute. It hurt like nothing she had ever experienced before. How Naruto or any shinobi managed to shrug them off she couldn't even begin to fathom, but like anything else it was something she was having to train herself to withstand or at least tolerate.

Kitsune looked at herself in the mirror as she tied her hair up in it's usual ponytail. It had actually grown faster than she thought it would, not that it was a problem for her. She had overheard Naruto talking with some of the other guys and he had mentioned that hair length didn't really matter to him, so she was going to let it grow out a little longer than the shoulder-length she had been keeping it at. It had already grown down to about her shoulder blades, and at that rate in another month it would be at mid-back.

After pulling on the dark blue shinobi pants and shirt, she left the restroom to see Naruto sitting on the bed, mostly dressed. He had on his orange pants and mesh shirt, but had forgone his jacket and instead had a dark blue shirt much like hers next to where he was sitting. Not saying a word, Kitsune moved over to her dresser once again, this time gathering up the cloth wrap for her right thigh that she attached her kunai pouch to.

"Are you ready for today?"

The redhead thought about it for a moment as she wrapped the white cloth around her leg. "I don't really know. I don't see why all this is necessary, honestly."

"Baa-chan didn't explain it? She usually likes to do stuff like that."

Kitsune turned her head towards Naruto and gave him a flat look, only to see him still sitting there looking bored as he scratched at his cheek with a finger.

"She did explain. I don't see why it's necessary. I was already doing D-Rank missions as a construct, but since I'm human now I need to be legitimately tested for rank placement."

If the blond was going to say anything in response it was cut off when there was a series of rapid knocks on their apartment door. With a grunt Naruto pushed himself off the bed and quickly padded over to answer it. Kitsune knew it was likely someone coming to tell them where to report to for her test, so she simply continued wrapping the cloth – this time around her other leg. She had just randomly discovered that she was completely proficient in using either hand and arm, and as a ninja being ambidextrous did have its perks. Wearing a weapon pouch on each leg allowed her to make full use of this particular ability.

Unfortunately, just because she was equally skilled with using both arms and hands didn't mean that her 'skills' were totally up to par. As a construct she didn't really need to do much manual calibration – she only had to think about doing it and her chakra did it for her. While she was still able to use her chakra to reinforce herself, she had no memories of how human anatomy and musculature worked. No one could deny that she was a quick study and picked up skills at an astounding rate (as if she had done all this before) but on an overall scale since becoming human she was only graded at peak chuunin level – or around the same area that a large majority of the shinobi population reached and never surpassed.

At least that was the case three weeks ago. Since then she had been training with Naruto and occasionally one of the others from his graduating class nonstop in an effort to... prove herself. Part of Kitsune was wondering how much of her efforts were to please herself, or to please Naruto. Or perhaps she just wanted acknowledgement in her own way from everyone in the village.

It was strange to think about, but she couldn't deny that she enjoyed the look of surprise on other's faces when she surpassed expectations.

Hearing the door close, the redhead looked up from attaching the final holster as Naruto returned to the room.

"Well?"

"We're to report to training ground thirteen in a half an hour."

Kitsune's head tilted to the side slightly, curious. Judging by the look on Naruto's face, his thoughts were running parallel with hers. "They really asked for both of us?"

The blond nodded, slowly.

"I thought I was the only one needing testing?"

"So did I. Apparently not, and Crane – the ANBU – didn't know either. They asked for both of us, so I guess I should get geared up as well."

"How long will it take you to get ready? I think we should be there early."

Naruto shrugged. "Five minutes?"

"Okay." Kitsune finished adjusting her outfit, giving herself one last look-over in the mirror. She didn't think of herself as vain, at least not when comparing herself to other females she knew... but _damn_ if she didn't look good. "I'll meet you in the kitchen before we head out, I'm thirsty."

"You got it."

* * *

_Twenty-eight minutes later..._

"You're on time. That's a good sign."

Naruto and Kitsune came to a stop in front of a elderly man who had the right side of his head and arm wrapped up in bandages. On top of that, he was walking with a cane. Both of the new arrivals shared a look with each other before simultaneously looking at the other person standing nearby.

"I know you're wondering why I called for both of you to be here," Tsunade began. Gesturing at the bandaged man, she continued, "This man here is Shimura Danzo. He's worked a lot with my old sensei in the past, and is the only shinobi still alive that did training under the Nidaime Hokage. He offered to help test you both as he has some... unique talents that will test you in multiple ways." Even as the Hokage explained who the man was, her expression every time she glanced at the man could generally be described as... unkind.

"Ehh, baa-chan, that doesn't explain why I need to be here."

Momentarily focusing on the other blond, Tsunade closed her eyes for a brief moment and sighed. "As I was going to say, _Naruto_, you both will be working as or on a team most of the time. However there are rules that need to be followed. In order for me to let you both go off and not take a chunin team with you, you'll need to at least make Tokubetsu Jonin. It wasn't an issue before as Jiraiya was with you most of the time, but as he is now... indisposed... I can't let you go around without the proper support.

"Considering what I've seen from Naruto I'm already willing to promote him, so I'm here to observe how Kitsune shapes up. She already passes as far as chakra-reserves go, but I'll need to evaluate her combat ability before I'll consider allowing her to be your second, Naruto."

Kitsune nodded, as she had been practicing for this very reason. Tsunade simply asked for Naruto to come along so she could directly assess how the two of them worked together.

"As Kitsune is likely aware of the combat styles of most of your peers and that of their sensei, I have a limited pool of people I could pull from to properly test you. Danzo volunteered when he heard of my plight." Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she stared at the man next to her, but he was ignoring her in favor of keeping his visible eye closed as if in a meditative state.

"If there are no questions, I'll let Danzo get right to it. I'll simply be here in an observational capacity, and in case there are any injuries."

With a nod, Tsunade turned to level a brief, deadpan stare at the older man – only to still be ignored - before promptly walking towards the nearby tree line. When she was a few paces away, Danzo talked to them for the second time.

"My test will, for the most part, be focused on Kitsune as she is the one who needs more testing to prove she is capable. Naruto you will only intervene when it looks like she needs it. I won't give you any hints, so it will be up to you. Do it too soon, and it will reflect poorly on your judgement abilities. However, if you take too long it will do the same, plus Kitsune may suffer injury. Are you both prepared?"

Naruto looked over at Kitsune, but the redhead wasn't looking at him – she was glaring daggers at Danzo. Trying to figure out why she would be so angry already, the blond somehow managed to hold his tongue as he watched the older man in front of them slowly unwrap the bandage around the right side of his face, only to reveal a Sharingan eye of all things.

"W-Where did you get that eye from?" This time Naruto couldn't stop the question that immediately popped into his mind. Not only was he shocked, but he was also amazed that Tsunade knew and let him keep it, especially if he was willing to reveal it here.

Danzo, however, only continued looking at him impassively. "I'm a shinobi first and foremost. You don't believe I'm going to reveal the origins of this eye, do you? Have you ever asked Hatake Kakashi where he got his?"

Naruto considered tossing back a retort, while Kakashi had not explicitly stated as such he had said several times his old teammate was an Uchiha, and it didn't take much to connect the dots from that point. However, any comments he might have said were stopped as Kitsune launched a fireball at the aged man, forcing him to dodge and stopping any conversation.

Naruto had to squelch his first impulse, which was to immediately jump to Kitsunes defense. Worry started to pass over his features as Kitsune began launching fireball after fireball by flinging her hands in the directions that Danzo was moving... but she wasn't making hand signs. It might prove to be an interesting advantage in a real battle, but they were moving to slow to hit the surprisingly agile older man.

Not only that, but he passively wondered what kind of chakra drain that was. They hadn't tested to see if there was any limits to the chakra in her new body, though like him she had never shown any signs of being tired.

Once again he had to stop himself as Danzo finally got tired of dodging and finally sent a Great Breakthough at her. Normally a wind technique would simply add fuel to a fire technique, but his was on a level that completely overpowered her fireballs to the point where it simply extinguished them.

The blond had to brace himself as the technique impacted the ground nearby, throwing up dirt, grass, and rocks. A thick dust settled over the area for a moment before several of the larger chunks of rock on the ground began melting, turning into a glowing lava. They lurched forward once, then twice, before literally flying off the ground after that directly at where Danzo landed.

A stream of water erupted from Danzo's mouth, directly at the flying lava. A dense steam rapidly spread through the area surrounding the older man as the two connected, making Naruto wonder just what was going to happen next. He couldn't see through either of the people who were fighting, even though he could faintly sense that both of them hadn't moved another inch. Almost as if they were waiting for something.

The stalemate didn't last much longer, though, as several braces worth of kunai went flying out of both clouds at almost the exact time time. Amazingly virtually every kunai collided with each other in the air too, making sparks fly all over the place. So many of them were colliding it was hard to tell who was trying to attack and who was trying to defend, though perhaps both of them were doing it at the same time.

Finally, Kitsune came running out of the rapidly dispersing dust cloud that she had been standing in, moving swiftly towards Danzo in an attempt to engage him in taijutsu. This part Naruto was actually interested to see, as he had honestly not seen her fight with anyone other than himself, and wondered if he was the only one that had a hard time handling her.

Of course he had gained a bit of an advantage when she finally got a real body if only because she hadn't quite adjusted to ignoring pain, fatigue, and stress like he was able to yet. Honestly, Naruto wasn't sure if she'd ever have the tolerance he did, as there was still very little he understood about the body she had created.

Kitsune had to do a little bit of fancy footwork as some of the ground underneath her began to resemble what looked like quicksand, though she jumped in the air and did a speedy series of handeals. Lifting both index fingertips to her bottom lip, she blew out a steady stream of fire in a cone shape, literally glassing the sandy ground beneath her.

As she landed amongst the flickering flames, Danzo ran forward to meet her head on with a... sword? Naruto examined it carefully, noticing that the man had his cane in his other hand.

Oh. _Oh._ Clever.

Kitsune held two kunai of her own, one in each hand that she held scissor-style to keep Danzo's blade from moving forward as they made contact. A few loud clangs, plus the sound of metal-on-metal made Naruto wince a little. Their quick clashes looked brutal and he could see the effort on the redhead's face as she struggled to stop the attacks and find openings of her own.

He knew Kitsune was capable of using a blade, as she had used stick imitations often enough when sparring with him when they were still traveling. She hadn't since they returned, though, and he wasn't sure if there was a reason behind that or not.

A strong overhead swing made Kitsune lift both of her arms to block, which Danzo took full advantage of. Lashing out with a leg, he caught her in the midsection, making the redhead stumble and fall backwards as she dropped her kunai and held her abdomen.

Naruto was about to jump in and assist, though for some reason Danzo didn't move to make her yield, and instead appeared to wait for Kitsune to slowly make her way back to her feet. She scrambled for a moment to collect at least one of her kunai while the other held her stomach, but when she looked up at the older man her scrambling stopped and she instead continued to move at a much more sedate pace.

Collecting one of the dropped kunai, she slowly rose to her feet, and appeared to settle into a semi-ready stance. Strangely, though... she didn't move any further. Naruto simply stared on, confused, at least until the seal around his abdomen began heating up.

Curiousity changed into confusion as the seal continued getting warmer, meaning Kitsune was pulling on more and more chakra... though she wasn't really doing anything. Even Danzo had stopped, and had infact moved to an idle position, going so far as to put his sword.

Suddenly, it hit him. Kitsune only needed to pull upon the chakra still locked away in the seal when she didn't have enough in her own human body – and she had quite a lot of it. Since he couldn't see her doing anything, there was only one thing that could be happening.

Jumping forward, Naruto got between her and Danzo, then moved one of his hands forward to touch her cheek. She didn't register his movement, or his contact, which meant that it was as he feared. Sending a jolt of his own chakra into her, the redhead almost immediately let out a gasp before he noticed her eyes immediately focus on him.

At first, Kitsune had a look of rage, like she couldn't believe she had been caught in a genjutsu. But it quickly faded into a saddened, yet almost relieved look. She tilted her head further against Naruto's palm and took a step forward, so that her forehead rested against his chest.

"I believe that is the end of this little test?"

The blond held back from saying what was immediately on his mind. "Yes, I believe it is," he drawled out slowly instead. Since he noticed Tsunade was approaching quickly, he simply left it at that. Danzo said nothing either.

It didn't take long for Tsunade to reach them, and Naruto noted with no small amount of relief that she immediately begain pestering Danzo.

"It's over already? It hasn't even been ten minutes! What the hell did you do?"

Naruto wasn't facing them, as he was more concerned about Kitsune, who still wasn't moving or saying anything. Actually, she had moved close enough to press her entire torso against his at this point, and had even wrapped her arms around his waist.

It was very... unusual.

"I thought you were only going to use that eye to give her a good fight, not to place her in a genjutsu!"

"Tsunade-hime, genjutsu are part of a fight-"

"Not with the Sharingan, dammit! We went over this!"

The blond wasn't trying hard to listen in, after all the Hokage was almost shouting at this point. He was going to attempt to talk to Kitsune, but she seemed to be strangely content to just stand there holding him. Mentally shrugging he slowly worked his arms around her back as well, and once he had done so he felt her arms briefly tighten then relax against him. For all intents and purposes, she appeared to be calm and normal, though he couldn't see her face right now and he couldn't feel her heartbeat through the vests they both wore.

He didn't hear Tsunade say anything about dismissing Danzo, but he did hear her sigh and then the sound of grass crunching under her feet as she moved over to them. As she moved over into his line of sight it was obvious to see both the exasperation and worry on her features.

"Ugh, Danzo. I can't believe the nerve of that man. I'm sorry, both of you." Even though she had addressed it to both of them, her eyes were completely focused on the redhead.

"What was that all about anyway, baa-chan?"

Instead of getting angry at him for using the nickname, she crossed her arms and sighed, looking back off into the direction that Danzo had apparently left in.

"I don't know how exactly he heard about it, but he did know that I was going to test both of you. He appeared to be more interested in testing Kitsune though." She stopped for a moment to pinch the bridge of her nose as she shook her head.

"I should have known, but perhaps I really did want to believe that he had everyone's best interests at heart this time. There were others I could have pulled to test you both, but there are very few shinobi with Danzo's over all level of experience."

Naruto nodded slowly, not sure what else to say. He knew of Danzo, of course, but he didn't really know anything about the man other than he caused some people headaches. He was obviously skilled, and having the Sharingan only made him moreso.

A slight grimace passed over his face as he thought about the Sharingan. It was hard enough to fight against, but Kitsune had an inherent weakness against them. Since the only person he regularly encountered that had one was Kakashi, it wasn't something that he really thought about. That would have to change now though, since there were still non-friendly Sharingan out in the world to deal with.

Tsunade snapping her fingers in front of his face pulled him out of his thoughts.

"S-sorry, baa-chan, I was thinking about things."

The blonde woman snorted, and Naruto's eyes were drawn to where her glowing green hand was pressed against Kitsune's forehead.

"What's wrong?"

The Hokage shook her head, frowning. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but she's minimally responsive right now. It looks like she has a surplus of chakra and it's wreaking havoc on her nervous system. In fact, based on what I can feel, her chakra seems to be focused around her stomach, where her seal is located. She's likely trying to subconsciously give it back to where it came from, but your seals aren't designed that way to the best of my knowledge."

"No, they aren't," Naruto agreed. "I might be able to work on something though."

"Good." Tsunade nodded and pulled her hand away. "If nothing else it would let you easily break any genjutsu in the future, especially if your own chakra could travel between the seals whenever necessary. For now though, she needs to release a lot of excess chakra. Normally I'd put her to sleep and let it burn off naturally, but there is too much and it may damage her body."

Naruto frowned as he glanced down his nose to look at the top of Kitsune's head. He had an idea since he was familiar with manipulating her chakra, but he didn't know how well it would work. There was only one way to find out...

"I need to check her seal. Can you make sure she doesn't fall over?"

One of Tsunade's eyebrows arched upwards, but she nodded slowly and moved over behind Kitsune, grabbing the woman's shoulders. When the Hokage had a decent grip, Naruto managed to pull himself out of Kitsune's grasp with only minor difficulty. The redhead was completely fixated on him, but only with her eyes. Her face was set in an expressionless mask, which was completely unusual for her – it made him slightly uncomfortable.

Her expression remained unchanged even after he unzipped her vest, and still as he crouched down and lifted up her shirt slightly so that he could examine the seal. Other than her hands shaking as they clenched and released, she hadn't uttered a single word. Now it was just making him unnerved – the Kitsune he knew would never let a moment like this pass either without letting loose. Not that she'd have let him get this far.

Tsunade spoke up again as she tried to watch from over Kitsune's shoulder. "What's your plan?"

Naruto tried to keep his eyes from roaming as he stared at the seal on the redhead's well-defined abdomen. "I'm just going to tweak the seal so I can pull her chakra from it. I think the best thing to do is to make a few Shadow Clones, since they'll quickly bring her chakra down to a manageable level."

He didn't listen to anything Tsunade might have said as a follow up as he focused intently on the seal, finding the exact spot he needed to tweak. Gently placing the tips of his forefinger, index finger, and thumb on her skin where the seal was located, he channeled a small amount of chakra into them and twitsted them clockwise.

The seal morphed slightly, and he became aware as the redhead let out a gasp. Her hands reached out to grab his shoulders, but Naruto focused and placed the palm of his hand in the middle of the design around her navel. Making a half-seal with his free hand, he concentrated on pulling chakra from her seal and performing a technique.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

There was a flash of red from the seal, and Naruto felt a brief feeling of fire traveling through his veins. There were numerous flashes of smoke in the area immediately surrounding the three of them, and the blond couldn't help but quirk his lips into a small smile.

"Well, I didn't know it would happen like that," he mumbled.

There were too many to get a quick count, but there were plenty of copies of Kitsune now standing there staring at the three of them. Most of them seemed to be a mix between amused and relieved, but a few were looking in the direction of their stomachs before looking back at him with an interested expression.

"Naruto..." he heard his name – it almost sounded as if it was an exasperated sigh – before looking back up at the original Kitsune. The moment he did so her hands went limp on his shoulders, and he tried to catch her as she toppled forward.

Luckily Tsunade still had a grip on the redhead's shoulders, therefore she didn't get very far before the Hokage lowered her slowly to the ground.

"Is she going to be okay?" There was no hiding the worry in his voice.

Instead of answering right away, Tsunade's hand was covered in greenish-hued chakra as she placed it against the other woman's forehead. Before long she moved it down over her heart, then her navel, before finally nodding.

"She'll be fine. Her chakra levels have normalized, though she'll be a little more worn out than usual because I don't think she's had that much chakra released from this body at once before. Has she ever used Shadow Clones before?"

Naruto looked at the clones around them, who seemed to be extremely interested at what was going on, before shaking his head. "Not that I know of, no."

"I see," Tsunade sighed briefly before checking over Kitsune one more time, then nodded and stood up from where she was crouched. "I suggest you take her home and make sure she gets plenty of rest. I'll see about getting some other jonin to test you two again, though just from the short time she actually got to fight I think she'd do fine under normal circumstances."

Naruto nodded at his boss before looking down at Kitsune, who was quietly resting. He began to shift his position so that he could pick her up and head back home, but stopped when a few throats nearby cleared themsevles.

Startled, he looked up again, only to see that he had quite a few clones of Kitsune who were still staring at him.

"You're leaving already?" asked one of the redheaded clones.

"We don't want you to leave so soon with the boss, _Naruto-kun_..." mumbled another.

A third clone either worked up it's nerve or simply decided to partake in different sorts of instincts, as it stepped up closer and lifted up the front of its shirt enough to let him see a replication of the seal on its abdomen. "I don't know about the others, but I still have tingles where you touched the boss," the copy purred.

Several others must have felt the same, as quite a few hands quickly moved to rest over their stomachs. A few others were making comments that he was half listening to, as he was a little too shocked to completely comprehend what was going on.

He didn't get long to think about it, however, as one of the clones leaned into his back, wrapping arms around his neck and resting its chin on his shoulder, lips near his ear.

"Naruto-kun, won't you play with us? The boss will be fine, we'll take care of her."

The blond felt blood rushing to his face. He couldn't help but wonder if Kitsune was normally like this and was just hiding it, or if her clones were just having fun at his expense. Most likely the latter.

He let out a chuckle before looking up at the clone who was still holding her shirt up a little. "So you all want to have fun?"

The clone that was hovering near his ear let out a moan, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The one in front of him simply nodded, trailing a finger from her free hand down the center of her stomach. Other clones were looking antsy, while others seemed to be having a hard time keeping themselves from simply jumping him.

He let out a small burst of his own chakra in a burst, making the clone that was holding him let out a little yelp and jump a step back. Before any other words were said he held his hands up together in a pose he could do in his sleep now if he had to.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The area was covered in smoke once again, only this time after it was blown away there were countless copies of himself spread out amongst those of Kitsune. There was silence in the area for a while before the noise started growing as they began talking to each other.

Finally, when there was a random shout of 'Rasengan!' from somewhere in the crowd, all hell broke loose. The real Naruto scrambled to pick up Kitsune and get them out of there before any stray techniques got too close. Of course that wasn't to say he didn't catch a few good eyefuls on the way out of that training area. He knew that his clones had somewhat reduced inhibitions since they knew they weren't real, but he hadn't fully thought about how it might affect Kitsune as well.

No matter. He'd get her home, then go take a very long cold shower. Then mentally psych himself up for when Kitsune invariably decided to beat him into a bloody paste. He was already getting some memories from a few dispelled clones and...

_Oh man..._

Completely, hopelessly, utterly... doomed.

* * *

Might seem a little shorter, but that's because he turns 17 soon and that chapter is already horrendously long.

I'll don't think I'll post review responses for this chapter since it was kinda short-ish (13 pages, just under 8k words). I'll do it for the next.

Otherwise the next update will be Fire Shadow, so stay tuned. After that, either another Experiments or perhaps from the challenge I've written from pokemaster12. I've got a lot written, just need to figure out how I want to go about this. Going to try to go back to weekly updates, but no promises! They always start out good before something invariably pops up that makes me start pulling my hair out.

paradoxjast . blogspot . com


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